In Greek mythology, Antenor was a Trojan elder and counselor to Priam who urged the return of Helen and hosted the Greek embassy of Odysseus and Menelaus. Later authors cast him as a traitor who opened Troy's gates; traditions then settle him at Patavium (Padua) or other western sites. Distinct from the Zacynthian suitor of Penelope who shares the name.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Antenor (Trojan)" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Counselor at Troy
Antenor is named son of Aesyetes and Cleomestra, or of Hicetaon. He married Theano, daughter of Cisseus and priestess of Athena, and fathered many sons who fought at Troy—among them Archelochus, Acamas, Agenor, Polybus, Helicaon, and Iphidamas—plus a bastard Pedaeus. Homer seats him among the elders at the Scaean Gate; he confirms Helen's identification of Odysseus from the earlier embassy he had entertained, and in council he first urges that Helen and the treasure be restored.
His sons lead Dardanian contingents with Aeneas; Athena once walks the Trojan lines in the likeness of his son Laodocus. Theano rears Pedaeus carefully among her own children. The Homeric portrait is of prudence and hospitality, not treachery.
II.Betrayal and aftermath
Post-Homeric romance—especially Dictys and Dares—makes Antenor an open traitor who unseals the gates; his house, marked by a panther skin, is spared in the sack. Later fates vary: rebuilding on Troy's site, settling at Cyrene or on the Tyrrhenian coast, or founding Patavium with the Eneti. Virgil has Venus remind Jupiter that Antenor reached Padua; Dante names a circle of traitors Antenora after him.
The atlas keeps him distinct from Antenor of Zacynthus, one of Penelope's suitors slain with the others by Odysseus.