Editing Polydamas (mythology)

{{Other uses|Polydamas (disambiguation){{!}}Polydamas}}
[[File:Polydamus.jpg|thumb|Polydamas attempting to stop Hector attacking the Greeks, from [[John Flaxman]]'s illustrations to ''The Iliad'']]
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Polydamas''' ({{IPAc-en|p|ə|ˈ|l|ɪ|d|ə|m|ə|s}}; [[Ancient Greek]]: Πολυδάμας, gen. Πολυδάμαντος, ''Polydámas'', ''Polydámantos'') was a lieutenant and friend of [[Hector]] during the [[Trojan War]].  

== Family ==
Polydamas was the son of [[Panthous]], one of the Trojan elders and [[Phrontis]].<ref>[http://www.gottwein.de/Myth/MythP6.php Gottwein (Mythologie) - Polydamas (Πολυδάμας)]. Accessed: October 23, 2008. "Sohn des Panthoos und der Phrontis (Hom.Il.13,756; Hom.Il.17,40 u.ö.). Er wurde in der selben Nacht wie Hektor geboren (Hom.Il.18,251). Er bewährt sich als kluger Ratgeber (Hom.Il.12,60ff., Hom.Il.13,723ff.), so ist er im Gegensatz zur öffentlichen Meinung dafür, Helena zurückzugeben, was ihm später den Ruf des Verräters einträgt. Auch im Kampf steht er seinen Mann (Ov.met.12,547). Mehrere Helden fallen ihm zum Opfer: Prothoenor (Hom.Il.14,450ff.), Otos (Hom.Il.15,518) und Mekisteus (Hom.Il.15,339), Kleon und Eurymachos (Quint.Smyrn.11,60); andere verwundet er, selbst wird er von dem lokrischen Aias verwundet (Quint.Smyrn.6,505)."</ref> He was the father of [[Leiocritus|Leocritus]] who was killed by [[Odysseus]].<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], 10.27.1</ref>

== Mythology ==
During the battles described in the ''[[Iliad]]'', he often proposes a cautious battle strategy which is sometimes accepted but more often refused by Hector, who prefers direct attack. In Book XII, he prefers retreat in the face of the omen of an eagle. Hector defies this and presses forth anyway. However, Hector does take his advice to regroup in Book XIII, after the Argives have done tremendous damage to the Trojans. In Book XVIII of the ''Iliad'', Polydamas advises the Trojans to retire from the battlefield after the death of Patroclus. Hector, however, overrules Polydamas, leaving the army in the field when [[Achilles]] ends his feud with [[Agamemnon]] and rejoins the [[Ancient Greece|Achaean]] forces. As a result, Achilles kills a great number of Trojan warriors, culminating in a [[duel]] with Hector in which the latter is killed.

Polydamas appears periodically throughout the battles, and brags about killing [[Prothoenor|Prothoënor]]. He often complements Hector in battle. In Book XV, after killing Mecistus and [[Otus of Cyllene|Otus]], he is attacked by Meges, but [[Apollo]] saves him, causing him to dodge at the last moment.  Polydamas killed three Greeks in the war.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#115 115]</ref>

Homer gives no foreshadowing of Polydamas's final fate, nor is he mentioned in most of the later poems dealing with the aftermath of the war, leaving the reader to infer that he perished in the general slaughter after the fall of Troy to the Greek forces. 

He is mentioned in [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]]' ''[[Posthomerica]]'', but again, no death is mentioned. In Quintus Smyrneaus' story, Polydamas actually suggests that instead of attacking or fleeing, the Trojans should just give [[Helen of Troy|Helen]] back to the Greeks. This suggestion is well received by many soldiers, but nobody admits it. Paris calls him a deserter and a coward, but Polydamas retorts that Paris' ambitions instigated the problem. Later on, he tries again to persuade the Trojans to stay inside the city in order to raise troop morale, but it is [[Aeneas]] that opposes his opinion this time, on the grounds that the Greeks will not be disheartened by a long stay inside the walls.

==References ==
'''Notes'''
{{Reflist}}

'''Bibliography'''
* [[Gaius Julius Hyginus]], ''Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. [https://topostext.org/work/206 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. {{ISBN|0-674-99328-4}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]
* Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.  [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0159 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].

==Eponym==
*[[4348 Poulydamas]] - an asteroid named after Polydamas

==External links==
*{{commonscatinline}}

{{Characters in the Iliad}}

[[Category:Trojans]]
[[Category:Characters in the Iliad]]