| Achaeans | Homer's most common term for the Greeks who besieged Troy; he also called them Argives or Danaans.
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| Achilles | [a-KIL-leez]. Son of the sea nymph Thetis and the mortal Peleus; in Homer's Iliad, the most formidable Greek warrior at Troy.
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| Agamemnon | Son of Atreus and brother of Menelaus, he was commander in chief of the Greek expedition against Troy. Murdered by his wife Clytemnestra, he was avenged by his children Orestes and Electra.
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| Ajax | A leading Greek warrior in the Trojan War who went mad after losing a contest to Odysseus for Achilles' armor. His name is also spelled Aias.
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| Andromache | [an-DROM-a-kee] Wife of Hector, Troy's leading defender, and mother of Astyanax.
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| Briseis | Daughter of Brises (ally of the Trojans) and the captive of Achilles whom Agamemnon confiscated, provoking the wrath that ignited the Iliad's action.
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| Calchas | Prophet who accompanied the Achaeans to Troy.
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| Cassandra | Daughter of Priam and Hecuba, she was Apollo's virgin prophet; part of Agamemnon's booty from Troy, she was brought to Argos (Mycenae), where Clytemnestra murdered her.
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| Chryseis | In the Iliad, daughter of Chryses (priest of Apollo) whom Agamemnon was forced to return to her father after the god inflicted a plague on the Greek army.
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| Diomede(s) | [dye-oh-MEE-deez] Youngest and one of the most effective Greek fighters in the Trojan War, he even battled against Ares and Aphrodite.
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| Dorians | A Greek people, distinctive linguistically and culturally from other Greeks, who controlled Argos and Sparta following the Mycenaean collapse.
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| Eris | Personification of strife or discord. The term can also mean the spirit of competition for excellence.
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| Glaucus | In the Iliad, a grandson of Bellerophon, co-leader of the Lycian allies of the Trojans who foolishly exchanged his gold armor for the bronze armor of Diomede(s).
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| Hector | Son of Priam and Hecuba and chief defender of Troy against the invading Achaeans, he was abandoned by his patron Apollo and slain by Achilles. An account of his funeral rites closes the Iliad.
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| Hecuba | [HEK-oo-ba] Wife of Priam and queen of Troy, she was the mother of Hector, Paris, Cassandra, and many other noble children, nearly all of whom were killed as a result of the Trojan War.
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| Helen | Daughter of Zeus and Leda; sister of Clytemnestra, Castor, and Pollux; and wife of Menelaus. Tyndareus, her legal father, made each of her innumerable suitors swear to uphold her marriage to whichever husband she selected, an oath that bound many Greek heroes after Paris took her to Troy.
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| Homer | Name that the ancient Greeks attributed to the (otherwise unknown) poet of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the father of epic poetry.
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| ichor | [IH-kohr] The colorless liquid that flowed instead of blood in the veins of the Greek gods.
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| judgment of Paris | The decision that Paris, a Trojan prince, made in selecting Aphrodite as the most beautiful goddess, thereby earning the wrath of Hera and Athene and ensuring the destruction of Troy.
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| Laocoon | [lay-AHK-oh-ahn] Trojan priest who warned against taking the Wooden Horse into Troy and who was crushed by giant sea serpents.
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| Leda | Wife of Tyndareus (king of Sparta) by whom Zeus fathered Helen, Clytemnestra, Castor, and Pollux (Polydeuces).
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| Menelaus | [men-e-LAY-uhs] Son of Atreus, younger brother of Agamemnon, husband of Helen, and king of Sparta.
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| Odysseus | [oh-DIS-ee-uhs] (Ulysses) Son of Laertes and Anticleia, husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus, king of Ithaca, and favorite of Athene, he was celebrated for his prudence, ingenuity, and resourcefulness among the Greek forces at Troy, the fall of which he engineered. Hero of the Odyssey, he demonstrated an endurance and adaptability that determined his successful return to Ithaca.
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| Palladium | A small wooden statue of Pallas Athene, the possession of which the Trojans believed would protect their city. After Odysseus stole it, Troy fell.
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| Paris | Trojan prince, son of Priam and Hecuba and younger brother of Hector, he selected Aphrodite as the most beautiful goddess, abducted Helen as his prize, and thereby sealed Troy's doom. He is also called Alexandros.
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| Patroclus | [pa-TROH-kluhs] Son of Menoetius (one of Helen's former suitors) and beloved friend of Achilles, whom he accompanied to Troy. His death galvanized Achilles to return to the war.
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| Peleus | The mortal to whom the gods married Thetis after Zeus learned that if he had a son by Thetis the boy would be stronger than his father. After Achilles' birth—when Peleus showed the first sign of aging—Thetis deserted him.
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| Priam | King of Troy, husband of Hecuba, and father of Hector, Paris, Cassandra, and (by various concubines) fifty sons.
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| Sinon | In the Aeneid, a Greek spy who persuaded the Trojans to take the Wooden Horse into their city.
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| Thetis | A sea nymph married to Peleus, by whom she had Achilles.
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| Trojan | Horse The hollow wooden horse that concealed Odysseus and other Achaeans and that was left as a parting gift when the Greeks pretended to leave Troy. It was so large that the Trojans had to tear down part of their protective walls to take it into their city.
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| Trojan War | The ten-year siege of Troy led by Agamemnon to retrieve Helen, who had eloped with Paris, a Trojan prince.
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| Tyndareus | King of Sparta and reputed father of Helen (whom most traditions say is the daughter of Zeus).
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