An episode of The Trojan War

RHESUS AND THE NIGHT RAID

Ῥῆσος

On the night the Thracian king Rhesus reached Troy with his snow-white horses, Odysseus and Diomedes crept into the sleeping camp — and the newest ally of Troy never saw the dawn.

The tale

01Dolon the spy

Hector sent Dolon by night to spy on the Achaean ships, promising him Achilles' horses. Odysseus and Diomedes caught him on the plain, and before he died he told them where the newcome Thracians lay — outermost of all, their king Rhesus among them with the fairest horses ever seen, whiter than snow.

02Twelve Thracians and a king

Diomedes slew twelve Thracians in their sleep and Rhesus the thirteenth, gasping in an evil dream, while Odysseus loosed the horses and drove them off. Son of the river Strymon and a Muse, Rhesus had come to Troy only that evening.

Cast

RhesusThracian king, one night at TroyDolonThe doomed spyOdysseusThe cunning oneDiomedesThe blade in the darkHectorSender of the spy

Places

Told in

  • HomerIliad10.299-525
  • Pseudo-ApollodorusThe Library1.3.4