May 14: Family Month

The young Trojan Dolon had been brought up in a household with five elder sisters, who had spoiled him rotten. He lived in the belief he was his parents’ gift to humanity, so when the Trojan king Priam asked for volunteers to spy on the Greek army, he confidently came forward. On one condition: he claimed the horses of Greek hero Achilles as spoils of war, should the Trojans obtain them. These mythical stallions, Balius and Xanthus, were the sons of the West wind, and as swift as their father. The Trojan prince Hector raised his eyebrows, but – suspiciously quickly – agreed to the deal. Disguised in a wolfskin, Dolon went on his way, but unfortunately, ran into the Greeks Odysseus and Diomedes, on a reconnaisance mission of their own. These two informed him that he had been tricked: Achilles’ horses would never have obeyed him. On the promise that his life would be spared, Dolon gave up all Trojan defense details. He only discovered he’d been tricked again, when he literally lost his head.

Capture of Dolon, Ambrosian Iliad, Bibliotheca Ambrosiana, Milano, Italy

Dolon, calyx krater, British Museum, London, UK

Did you know...

• Achilles' horses had been a wedding gift from Poseidon (god of oceans and horses) for Achilles' father Peleus, when he married the Oceanid Thetis.

• The meaning of Dolon's name is "devious".