Polyxena (daughter of Priam)
Polyxena ( ancient Greek Πολυξένη Polyxénē , from polýxenos "accommodating many strangers", translated: "the hospitable") is originally a Trojan princess from Greek mythology . She is a daughter of Priam and Hecabe and the younger sister of Kassandra , Paris and Hector .
Achilles fell in love with her during the Trojan War , but in vain, as she was a priestess of Athenas and therefore had to remain a virgin . For her part, she was very fond of Achilles, although he belonged to Troy's enemies. She saw and admired him fighting from the walls of Troy. After his death and the fall of Troy, it became the prey of the Greeks. When Achilles withdrew from Troy, Achilles appeared to his son Neoptolemus (also called Pyrrhos ) in a dream and demanded that the Greeks offer him the best and best of all the booty. They selected Polyxena and led her to the tomb of Achilles. There she was sacrificed; According to other tradition, she declared that she would rather die than fall victim to the Greeks, and stabbed herself to death.
Polyxena is mentioned among other things in the Metamorphoses of Ovid .
literature
- Gustav Türk : Polyxena 1 . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 3.2, Leipzig 1909, Col. 2718-2742 ( digitized version ).
