Introduction
Priam was the son of Laomedon, ransomed as a boy after Heracles sacked Troy and killed his father and brothers. He went on to rule Troy for decades, presiding over its greatest prosperity before the Trojan War.
Family
The Fall of Troy
Priam's reign is defined by the ten-year siege brought by the Achaeans after his son Paris took Helen from Sparta. Homer's Iliad shows him as an aged, dignified king who personally begs Achilles for the return of Hector's body, one of the epic's most moving scenes. When Troy finally fell to the ruse of the wooden horse, Priam was killed at his own household altar, according to most accounts by Achilles's son Neoptolemus.
As with all figures of Greek heroic legend, sources diverge on many particulars; the account above follows the most widely transmitted classical tradition.