Now after a week after that amazing cliffhanger that I left you guys with, I shall finish the story of how Laomedon got in even more trouble with divine and semi-divine beings. But first let me recap the story from last week: Zeus got pissed at Poseidon and Apollo, he ordered them to build the walls of Troy, the two took Aeacus (aka the Dude) as an assistant for their project, the three got the walls finished and almost immediately three dragons attacked. Two died, but one broke through the wall built by Aeacus, thus beginning the prophecy that a descendant of Aeacus will destroy the city of Troy. When the two gods asked for a reward after completing their tasks, the king of Troy, Laomedon, wisely flipped the bird at the gods and told them to leave. (Wait what?) And this is where we left off the last time, Apollo having founded Troy was not that upset with getting nothing, but Poseidon was pissed and he was going to make sure that Laomedon payed for his disrespect.
In response for not getting what he was promised, Poseidon summoned a terrible beast to terrorize the seas around Troy. This caused seatrade to diminish greatly and it was nearly impossible to travel by sea. Thus Laomedon prayed to Poseidon and asked him to forgive him for his greediness. Psyche! He really had his daughter Hesione sent out as a sacrifice to the sea monster, hoping that these actions would cause Poseidon to take away the terrible monster. Hesione was very lucky though, because she would be saved by the favorite son of Zeus, Heracles.
I'm about to go Medieval on your ass!
Heracles was sailing on a boat along with two other heroes (Oicles and Telamon) when he saw a woman being chained to boat as some horrible sea beast prepared to devour the helpless girl. He went over to Troy and found out that the woman was the daughter of the king. Heracles offered to slay the monster and save his Hesione, the only thing he wanted in return was the magical horses that were given as compensation from Zeus for kidnapping Laomedon's son. (Now let me tell you, that is a good story) Laomedon agreed so at the last second Heracles and friends jumped into action to save the girl. Oicles was lost in the battle (hence why you probably never heard of him before), but as usual Heracles was able to club the monster to death and save the girl.
I'll be back
Now after facing the wrath of someone for not holding his end of the bargain, you would think that Laomedon would learn his lesson and hand over the horses as promised, but no Laomedon learned nothing from flipping the bird at a god and decided to flip the bird at a demigod. Heracles did not immediately attack him and merely returned to his ship and set sail for Greece, but vengeance was still pumping through his veins.
I'm back
You see Arn... I mean Heracles went back to Greece to rally his allies and send a force to lay siege to Troy. Finally after weeks of starving the Trojans, the Greek forces broke through and slayed Laomedon and his sons, save for his son Ganymede who was in Olympus and Podarces who was able to buy his way out by giving Heracles a golden veil made by his sister Hesione. The aftermath of the death of Laomedon would be huge in the history of Troy, Hesione was given off to Telamon and they would have a son named Teucer, who would fight with his half-brother Ajax the Greater in the Trojan War. Podarces would become the new king of Troy, but his name would be changed from Podarces to Priam which means "to buy". Priam would then marry Hecuba and between them would have many children (though the total number of children that Priam would sire would be 69!) So begins the first steps towards the Trojan War told by the many epic poets.
No comments:
Post a Comment