Neoptolemus

Son of Achilles and the princess Deidamia of Skyros, also known as Pyrrhus. He was still a child on Skyros when his father died; the seer Helenus revealed that Troy could not fall without him, and Odysseus fetched him to the war along with Philoctetes (Apollodorus *Epitome* 5.11). He proved himself quickly, killing Eurypylus son of Telephus and fighting from the front. At the sack he cut down old Priam at the altar of Zeus Herkeios in the palace courtyard — the most impious killing of the war (*Epitome* 5.21) — and received Hector's widow Andromache as his prize of honour (*Epitome* 6.12). After the war he did not sail back to Phthia but went to Molossia in Epirus with Andromache, founding the Molossian royal line that later claimed him as ancestor. He was killed at Delphi: Pindar (*Nemean* 7.40–47) has the Delphians kill him in a quarrel at the sacrificial table, while Euripides (*Andromache* 1085–1165) places an ambush there by Orestes.

Associated Places