Polydōrus
(
Πολύδωρος).
1.
Son of Cadmus and Harmonia, father of Labdacus, and great-grandfather of Oedipus.
2.
Youngest son of Priam and of Laothoë; his father's favourite son. He was killed
while yet a boy by Achilles. The tragedians make him the son of Priam and Hecuba, who, before
the fall of Troy, committed him with many treasures to the care of their guest-friend, the
Thracian king Polymestor (or Polymnestor). After the capture of Troy, Polymestor put the boy
to death, in order to get possession of the gold, and threw the body into the sea. The waves
cast it up on the Trojan shore, and here Hecuba found it, just as Polyxena was on the point
of being sacrificed. Out of revenge she, with the help of the captive Trojan woman, killed
the two children of the murderer and blinded Polymestor himself. According to another
version, Ilioné, Priam's daughter and Polymestor's wife, brought up the brother,
who had been committed to her charge, as her own son, while she gave up her child
Deïphilus (or Deïpilus) instead of Polydorus. The Greeks, who wished to
exterminate the race of Priam, won over Polymestor by promising him the hand of Electra and a
large present of money in return for the murder of Polydorus. Polymestor then murdered his
own son, and was blinded and killed by Ilioné.
3.
A Greek sculptor of the school of Rhodes, author (in conjunction with Agesander and
Athenodorus) of the celebrated group of
Laocoön (q.v.).