Polites (prince of Troy) Polites (prince of Troy) Polites () was the legitimate son of Priam and Hecuba. He was a prince of Troy, and brother of 49 other children, including 12 daughters. He was killed by Neoptolemus (Pyrrhus), son of Achilles, who then killed his father. Polites was born to Priam, King of Troy, and Hecuba, his wife. He lived in Troy during his youth, was crowned prince of Troy, and was styled "his royal Majesty". During his youth, Polites witnessed the Trojan War and was a supporting character in the Iliad. During the passage of the Trojan Horse in the Trojan War,
Neoptolemus to them that they could defeat Troy if they could acquire the poisonous arrows of Heracles (then in Philoctetes' possession); steal the Palladium (which led to the building of the famous wooden horse of Troy); and put Achilles' son in the war. In response to the prophecy, the Greeks took steps to retrieve the arrows of Heracles and bring Neoptolemos to Troy. Odysseus was sent to retrieve Neoptolemos, then a mere teenager, from Scyros. The two then went to Lemnos to retrieve Philoctetes. Years earlier, on the way to Troy, Philoctetes was bitten by a snake on Chryse Island. Agamemnon