HELENUS

in Greek legend, son of King Priam of Troy and his wife Hecuba, brother of Hector, and twin of the prophetess Cassandra. According to Homer he was a seer and warrior. After the death of Paris in the Trojan War, Helenus paid suit to Helen but was rejected and withdrew in indignation to Mt. Ida, where he was captured by the Greeks. Other accounts, however, relate that Odysseus captured him, or he surrendered voluntarily in disgust at the treacherous murder of Achilles. He told the Greeks that in order to capture Troy they must do three things: gain possession of the Trojans' image of Pallas Athena (the Palladium), obtain the bow of Heracles, and have the help of Achilles' son Neoptolemus. Helenus and Andromache, his brother Hector's widow, were later taken by Neoptolemus to Epirus. After Neoptolemus' death, Helenus married Andromache and became ruler of the country.