The Main Characters of the Troy Cycle

Diane Thompson, NVCC, ELI

Greek Deities:

Since many older translations of Homer use Latin names for the various Greek gods, instead of the Greek names, I have included the Latin names where relevant. The characters are the same, whichever names are being used. The only Greek mortal who regularly undergoes a name change is Odysseus, who is frequently referred to by his Latin name, Ulysses.

Greek	Latin	Characteristics
Ares	Mars	god of war; lover of Aphrodite
Apollo		god of plague for infractions of ritual; angry at Greeks for insulting his priest, Chryses
Aphrodite	Venus	goddess of love; married to Hephaestus; lover of Ares
Athena	Minerva	goddess of wisdom; born from Zeus' head; Odysseus' patron
Eris		goddess of strife; threw golden apple which started quarrel between Hera, Athena and Aphrodite over which one was the most beautiful
Hephaestus	Vulcan	god of the forge; lame; spouse of Aphrodite
Hera	Juno	goddess of marriage; sister and wife of Zeus
Hermes	Mercury	messenger god, especially from gods to mortals
Polyphemus		the man-eating Cyclops who trapped Odysseus and his men in his cave; blinded by Odysseus; son of Poseidon
Poseidon	Neptune	god of the sea, earthquakes and horses; brother of Zeus; father of Cyclops Polyphemus
Thetis		a sea nymph; mother of Achilles; pleads with Zeus to let the Trojans overcome the Greek armies to placate Achilles honor
Zeus	Jove/ Jupiter	god of the sky and thunderbolts; chief deity; father of many half mortal children; final arbiter of law and order; initiator of the Trojan War

Greek Mortals:

Achilles	son of Peleus, a mortal, and Thetis, a sea nymph; greatest Greek warrior at Troy; leader of Myrmidons; quarreled with Agamemnon over Briseis, a war-prize concubine
Agamemnon	high king of Greece; king of Mycenae; led Greek armies against Troy; husband of Clytemnestra; sacrificed their daughter Iphigenia to get favorable winds to sail to Troy; killed by Clytemnestra
Calchas	Greek seer who advised Agamemnon to return Chryseis in order to stop the plague sent by Apollo
Clytemnestra	murdered her husband Agamemnon when he returned from Troy; daughter of Zeus and Leda; sister to Helen
Diomedes	brave, wise Greek warrior
Menelaus	king of Sparta; brother of Agamemnon; husband of Helen
Helen	the immediate cause of the war; wife of Menelaus; either seized by or ran away with Paris to Troy; daughter of Zeus and Leda
Nestor	king of Pylos; wise counselor
Odysseus	king of Ithaca; father of Telemachus; excellent counselor; devised Trojan Horse strategy; took ten years to return home after the war
Patroclus	Achilles' dear friend; killed by Hector who thought he was Achilles because he wore Achilles' armor
Penelope	faithful wife of Odysseus
Telemachus	son of Odysseus and Penelope

Trojans:

Aeneas	Trojan noble; not particularly important until Virgil's Aeneid
Andromache	wife of Hector, mother of Astyanax
Astyanax	young son of Andromache and Hector; killed by the Greeks to prevent his growing to up avenge Hector's death
Cassandra	a Trojan princess, cursed by Apollo to always speak the truth and never be believed; carried off by Agamemnon as a war prize; probably murdered by Clytemnestra
Chryses	priest of Apollo, whose daughter is wrongfully kept as a war-prize by Agamemnon
Hecuba	wife of Priam; queen of Troy; mother of Hector
Hector	son of Priam and Hecuba; father of Astyanax; Troy's finest hero; killed Patroclus; killed by Achilles
Laomedon	king of Troy when Hercules and Jason conquered it; father of Priam
Paris	love-obsessed son of Priam and Hecuba; judged goddesses' beauty; married Helen after bringing her to Troy; killed Achilles after the Iliad events
Priam	king of Troy when Greek armies under Agamemnon destroyed it; father of Hector and forty-nine other children; some by Hecuba, others by concubines
Troilus	Trojan prince; son of Hecuba and Priam