- Poludamas
In
Greek mythology , Poludamas or Polydamas (Πολυδάμας, -αντος) was a lieutenant and friend ofHector during theTrojan War . They were born on the same night. SinceHomer , in the "Iliad ", makes no reference to his ancestry (except to note that he is the son of Panthous (Πάνθοος) and Phrontis (Φροντίς), [http://www.gottwein.de/Myth/MythP6.php] he is apparently a commoner, or in any event not a member of the royal house ofTroy .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 XVIII of the "Iliad", Polydamas advises the Trojans to retire from the battlefield after the death of Patroclus. Hector, however, overrules Poludamas, leaving the army in the field when
Achilles ends his feud withAgamemnon and rejoins the 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.Homer gives no foreshadowing of Poludamas's final fate, nor is he mentioned in 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.
References
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