LaodamiaLaodamia was the daughter of Acastus, king of Iolcus and son of Pelias, and Astydameia.
Astydameia fell in love with Peleus, who had journeyed to Iolcus to be purified of murder. Peleus scorned her advances, and Astydameia accused Peleus of seduction.
Peleus was driven from Iolcus, escaping Acastus' attempts to murder him, but he later returned and killed both Acastus and Astydameia.
Laodamia, as a result, moved to Phylace where she married Protesilaus, son of Diomedeia and Iphiclus, king of Phylace.
Protesilaus left Laodamia shortly after their wedding to fight in Troy. He commanded forty ships from Phylace and the neighboring regions (Tripp, 501).
An oracle prophesied that the first Greek man to touch Trojan soil would also be the first to die.
In Ovid's Heroides XIII, Laodamia tells Protesilaus, in a letter, of the prophecy.
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(93) Sors quoque nescio quem
fato designat iniquo, qui primus Danaum Troada tangat humum. Infelix, quae prima virum lugebit ademptum! Di faciant, ne tu strenuus esse velis! Inter mille rates tua sit millensima puppis, iamque fatigatas ultima verset aquas! Hoc quoque praemoneo: de nave novissimus exi: non est, quo properas, terra paterna tibi. Cum venies, remoque move veloque carinam inque tuo celerem litore siste gradum! |
[There is] a prophecy, too, that designates I know not whom for an unjust fate. To the first Greek who touches Trojan ground. Unlucky [is] the first who will mourn her husband having been lost! May the gods make it so that you will not want to be too eager! Among the thousand ships let yours be the thousandth stern, and, moreover, let you be the last [ship] that whirls the weary waters! This, too, I forewarn: depart last from the ship; the land where you are hurrying is not a fatherland for you. When you return, move the keel with our and sail and on your own shore halt your quickened step! |
In the Heroides, Ovid depicts Laodamia as a woman deeply in love with her husband. In one passage she writes of her envy of the Trojan women, for they are near to their loved ones. In the same passage, she also writes that she has created a waxen image of Protesilaus (to whom the letter is addressed) and that it is helping her survive without him, as she can talk to it and embrace it.
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(137) Troasin invideo, quae
si lacrimosa suorum Ille ferens dominae mandata
recentia secum Dum tamen arma geres diverso
miles in orbe, |
I envy a Trojan woman because they observe the tearful funerals of their own, nor will the enemy be far away, with her own hands the young bride will place the helmet on the brave husband and will offer the Trojans weapons. She will offer the weapons and while she will offer the weapons, at the same time she receives kisses - this type of duty is sweet to both - and she will bring her hubsand forth, and will give commands to return and will say, "Bring back those weapons to Jove!" That one, carrying clear with himself the commands of his wife, will fight carefully and will consider his home. For that one returned she will strip him of his shield and will unfasten his helmet, and will take in his exhausted body with protection. We are uncertain; anxious fear forces us to imagine all deeds which are able to occur. However, while you are a soldier in a remote region and will carry arms, a waxen image of you restores your features to me; we tell to that one flattering words, we tell words to that one of obligation to you, that one [the waxen image] accepts my embrace. Believe me, the image is more than it may seem; add sound to the wax, it will be Protesilaus. I watch and hold that one in an embrace just as a real husband, and, just as if it was able to return words, I complain [to it]. |
Some stories state that the Greeks learned of the prophecy and, upon arrival at Troy, were hesitant to land. Protesilaus, however, heroically leapt ashore and cut down several Trojans. Other stories said that the Greeks were unaware of the prophecy and Protesilaus was the first ashore merely out of eagerness.
However, the prophecy was true, and he was soon the first Greek to die on Trojan soil. He dies at the hands of Hector.
Laodamia mourned her lost husband to such an extent that Hermes himself consented to bring Protesilaus back to the land of the living for three hours (Tripp, 338).
Propertius, in Book I.19, poem XIX, of his Elegies, describes the love between husband and wife, stating:
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(7) illic Phylacides iucundae
coniugis heros
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The hero[Protesilaus], descendant of Phylacus, there [in] the dark realms, was not able to be forgetful of his pleasant wife, but, longing to touch with his ethereal hands his joy(s), the shade of Thessaly came [to his] ancient home. There, whatever I will be, let me be said your ghost: and pure love passes through the coasts of destiny. |
After the three hours were up, and Protesilaus was to die again, Laodamia threw herself onto his funeral pyre, and died with him as the devoted wife.
Other stories (in which Laodamia's father, apparently, is still alive after the Trojan War) say that Laodamia had a waxen image of Protesilaus (which Ovid describes in the Heroides) and that a maid caught her kissing it. Laodamia's father ordered it to be burned, but Laodamia jumped into the fire with it, and was thus destroyed.
The story of Laodamia is tragic and, ironically, it is also quite similar to that of Hector and Andromache. While it is true that Hector and Andromache were in Troy, and Hector did kill Protesilaus, both couples are of husband and wife pairs truly in love. There are no rivals, no envy. Harold Isbell states: "[Laodamia's] life is profoundly enmeshed with that of Protesilaus. To her mind they have quite literally become two in one flesh" (Isbell, 116). Both stories tell of young, married love torn apart by war.