In Greek mythology, Polites (Ancient Greek Πολίτης) is a son of Priam and Hecuba, known for his swiftness. In the Iliad he serves as a scout on the barrow of Aesyetes, rescues the wounded Deiphobus, and fights among the Trojans; Virgil's Aeneid has Neoptolemus kill him before Priam's eyes at the fall of Troy. A Roman tradition instead lets him survive and found Politorium in Latium.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Polites (son of Priam)" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.In the Iliad
Polites is a legitimate son of Priam and Hecuba and brother of Hector, Paris, Deiphobus, and many other Trojan princes. Homer describes him as a fast runner who watches from the barrow of aged Aesyetes until the Achaeans sally from their ships; Iris once takes his voice when she rallies the Trojans.
He stretches his arms around the wounded Deiphobus and leads him from the fighting to the waiting horses. Later he slays Echius in the forefront of the fight. When Priam prepares to ransom Hector, he chides nine surviving sons — among them Polites, good at the war-cry — that they had not all perished in Hector's stead.
II.Fall of Troy and later tradition
In Virgil's Aeneid, Neoptolemus (Pyrrhus) pursues Polites into Priam's palace and kills him before the old king; Priam's curse precedes his own death at the same hand. The Roman antiquarian tradition associated with Cato instead has Polites survive, accompany Aeneas to Italy, and found Politorium; in the Aeneid a younger Priam, his son, appears at Anchises' funeral games.
There are no certain representations of Polites in surviving ancient Greek art, though some archaic vase scenes have been proposed.
III.Homonyms
This atlas entry (polites-trojan) is Priam's son, the sentinel of Troy. He is distinct from Polites the comrade of Odysseus in Circe's land (polites-odyssey) and from any later civic or geographical namesakes.