ABSTRACT
Daughter of Laomedon, king of Troy. When Apollo and Poseidon had agreed to build Laomedon the walls of Troy for a fee, he refused to pay them. In revenge Apollo sent a plague and Poseidon a sea-monster, to which an oracle declared that a maiden must be sacrificed. When the lot drawn for the victim had fallen on Hesione and she was already chained to a rock waiting to be devoured, Heracles offered to kill the monster for Laomedon, in return for two divine mares which his grandfather Tros had received from Zeus. Laomedon agreed; Heracles attacked the beast and, after a furious battle, killed it. But Laomedon once again refused to pay. In consequence, Heracles returned as soon as he could with an army, sacked Troy and captured Hesione, giving her as concubine to his ally Telamon, to whom she bore Teucer. Hesione was given the chance to choose one Trojan prisoner to be set free, and chose her brother Podarces, ransoming him with her veil as a token payment. He became King Priam, and subsequently asked for Hesione’s return, which Telamon refused.
