LAOMEDON 

Real Name: Laomedon

Identity/Class: Normal Human (Post-Hyborian Era)

Occupation: Ruler of Troy (c. 1282-1243 BC), General of the Trojan Armies

Group Membership: House of Troy

Affiliations: His horses; formerly Hercules

Enemies: Apollo, the Argonauts, Hercules, Neptune

Known Relatives: Ilus (father, deceased), Eurydice (mother, possibly deceased), Adrastus (maternal grandfather, deceased), Strymo (wife), Clytius, Hicetaeon, Lampus (sons, deceased), Tithonus, Priam (sons), Cilla, Astyoche, Hesione (daughters), Bucolion (son by Calybe, deceased), Teucer, Protesilaus (grandsons), Themisto (sister), Capys (cousin/brother-in-law, deceased), Antenor, Aeneas, Laocoon (nephews), Aeneas (son of Anchises), Dardanus (ancestor, deceased)

Aliases: None known

Base of Operations: Troy (now part of modern Turkey)

First Appearance: (behind-the-scenes) Incredible Hercules#114 (February, 2008)

Powers/Abilities: Laomedon possessed the normal human strength level of a man of his size, height and build who engages in extensive physical exercises. He had no superhuman powers, but he was a shrewd and wily ruler prone to deceit and dishonor. He was likely an accomplished warrior with a sword skilled in chariot racing.

History: (Greek Myth) - Laomedon was a descendant of Dardanus, son of Zeus and Electra, one of the goddesses identified as the Pleiades, the daughters of Atlas. Dardanus conquered the Dardanian Plain named for himself and founded Troy or built it atop another far older set of ruins dating before his lifetime. During his rule, Laomedon received Apollo and Neptune to help strengthen and build up the wall of Troy. Apollo and Neptune had been sent to Earth stripped of their godhood and in servitude to Laomedon for ten years as punishment for rebelling against Zeus. When they finished their servitude, Laomedon not only refused their wages but threatened to cut off their ears and sell them bound hand and foot into slavery.

Laomedon's rule was not without further incidents. His son, Tithonus was abducted by the dawn-goddess, Eos, to be her husband, and taken away to her home in the East. When Neptune and Apollo regained their godhood, they punished his breach of contract by sending a plague. To combat the plague, Laomedon's priests told him to relinquish his eldest daughter, Hesione, to the sea to break the curse. Neptune sent a great serpent from the ocean to claim Hesione on his behalf.

(Greek Myth/Incredible Hercules#114 (fb) - BTS) - On his return home from his ordeal with the Amazons, Hercules was a guest of Laomedon when Hesione was offered to the sea serpent. On behalf of Laomedon's hospitality, Hercules promised to save Hesione on behalf of the mares Zeus had given King Tros, Laomedon's grandfather, for the youth, Ganymede. Laomedon promised and Hercules slew the sea serpent. Hercules, however, fared no better than  Neptuneor Apollo. Laomedon refused to honor his promise, and Hercules had to depart empty-handed swearing vengeance to complete the rest of his labors.

Once his labors were over, Hercules amassed a sizable force to exact punishment on those kings who had wronged him, backed by several of the Argonauts and supported by kings who had gained his kinship, such as Telamon, King of Salamis. Laomedon's armies sank the Greek ships, but as Hercules routed the neighboring kings and enemies of Laomedon against him, Telamon breached the city and laid siege to it. Once within the city, Hercules slew Laomedon and all his sons, but for young Priam, who had not been born when he was slighted. Hercules placed Priam on the throne of Troy, taking the mares and Hesione and her sisters for himself. He surrendered the sisters as brides to his fellow Argonauts; Hesione becoming wife of Telamon and mother to the warrior, Teucer, half-brother to Ajax the Great, who fought with the Greeks against Troy. 

Comments: Adapted by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente.  

Profile sources: Mythology by Edith Hamilton and Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology by Edward Tripp

The dates for Laomedon's rule are based on a date of 1194-1184 for the Trojan War as per Heinrich Schelieman's archaeological analysis at Hissarlik, the site of Troy in Northwest Turkey. Some sources date the Trojan War occurring around 1250 BC. Based on the dates from Troy and a lot of dead reckoning, Hercules would have been born in 1278 BC, seventeen when he killed the lion of Cithaeron in 1261, married to Megaera in 1256, his Twelve Labors occurred from 1250 to 1248, in servitude to Queen Omphale in Lydia in 1238 BC and ascending into godhood in 1224 BC. 

Laomedon's story of Apollo and Neptune loosely resembles the story of Odin having the walls of Valhalla fortified by the giants Fafnir and Fasolt in "The Ring of the Nibelung." Hesione and the serpent resembles the story of Andromeda and the serpent in the story of Perseus.  

Laomedon's wife is variously named Strymo, Placia and Leucippe; all of whom are daughters of Scamander, who was either a river-god or an ancient Hattic/Hittite ruler who lent his name to the river. Strymo is his wife in most traditions.

Profile by: WillU and Prime Eternal

CLARIFICATIONS: Laomedon is not to be confused with:

  • Laodamas, Quilonian soldier, ally of Conan, @ Savage Sword of Conan#46

 

Issues:

Incredible Hercules#114 (February, 2008) - Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente (writers), Khoi Pham (penciler), Paul Neary (inker), Mark Paniccia (editor)

Last updated: 03/02/08

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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