Major Figures in the Trojan War

Agamemnon

Agamemnon was the leader of the Greek forces in the Trojan War. He was the brother-in-law of Helen of Troy. Agamemnon was married to Clytemnestra, the sister of Menelaus' wife, Helen of Troy.

• Agamemnon

Ajax

Ajax was one of the suitors of Helen and so was one of the members of the Greek force against Troy in the Trojan War. He was almost as skilled a fighter as Achilles. Ajax killed himself.

• Ajax

Andromache

Andromache was the loving wife of the Trojan prince Hector and mother of their son, Astyanax. Hector and Astyanax were killed, Troy destroyed, and (at the end of the Trojan War) Andromache was taken as a war bride, by Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, to whom she bore Amphialus, Molossus, Pielus, and Pergamus.

• Andromache

Cassandra

Cassandra, a princess of Troy, was awarded as a war bride to Agamemnon at the end of the Trojan War. Cassandra prophesied their murder, but as was true with all her prophecies because of a curse from Apollo, Cassandra was not believed.

• Cassandra

Clytemnestra

Clytemnestra was the wife of Agamemnon. She ruled in his stead while Agamemnon went off to fight the Trojan War. When he returned, after having murdered their daughter Iphigenia, she killed him. Their son, Orestes, in turn, killed her. Not all version of the story has Clytemnestra slaying her husband. Sometimes it is her lover.

• Clytemnestra

Hector

Hector was a Trojan prince and the leading hero of the Trojans in the Trojan War.

• Hector

Hecuba

Hecuba or Hecabe was the wife of Priam, King of Troy. Hecuba was the mother of Paris, Hector, Cassandra, and many others. She was given to Odysseus after the war.

• Hecuba

Helen of Troy

Helen was the daughter of Leda and Zeus, sister of Clytemnestra, Castor and Pollux (the Dioscuri), and wife of Menelaus. Helen's beauty was so overwhelming that Theseus and Paris abducted her and the Trojan War was fought to bring her back home.

• Helen of Troy Basics

Characters in the Iliad

In addition to the list of major characters in the Trojan War above and below, for each book of the Trojan War story The Iliad, I have included a page describing its main characters.

• Books of the Iliad With Character Lists for Each

Achilles

Achilles was the leading hero of the Greeks in the Trojan War. Homer focuses on Achilles and the wrath of Achilles in the Iliad.

• Achilles

Iphigenia

Iphigenia was a daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. Agamemnon sacrificed Iphigenia to Artemis at Aulis in order to obtain favorable wind for the sails of the ships waiting to sail to Troy.​

• Iphigenia

Menelaus

Menelaus was the king of Sparta. Helen, the wife of Menelaus was stolen by a prince of Troy while a guest in the palace of Menelaus.

• Menelaus

Odysseus

Crafty Odysseus and his ten-year return to Ithaca from the war at Troy.

• Odysseus

Patroclus

Patroclus was a dear friend of Achilles who put on the armor of Achilles and led Achilles' Myrmidons into battle, while Achilles was sulking on the sidelines. Patroclus was killed by Hector.

• Patroclus

Penelope

Penelope, the faithful wife of Odysseus, kept suitors at bay for twenty years while her husband fought at Troy and suffered Poseidon's wrath on his return home. During this time, she raised their son Telemachus to adulthood.

• Penelope

Priam

Priam was the king of Troy during the Trojan War. Hecuba was the wife of Priam. Their daughters were Creusa, Laodice, Polyxena, and Cassandra. Their sons were Hector, Paris (Alexander), Deiphobus, Helenus, Pammon, Polites, Antiphus, Hipponous, Polydorus, and Troilus.

• Priam

Sarpedon

Sarpedon was a leader of Lycia and an ally of the Trojans in the Trojan War. Sarpedon was a son of Zeus. Patroclus killed Sarpedon.

• Sarpedon