Which Greek hero killed the Paphlagonian leader Pylaemenes?

Menelaus killed the Paphlagonian leader Pylaemenes in Homer's Iliad. Pylaemenes led the Eneti, a Paphlagonian people fighting as allies of Troy, into the Trojan War. Their appearance places the episode within the long catalogue of forces gathered around Troy.

The death occurs in Book 5 of the Iliad, during the intense fighting around the Greek and Trojan lines. Menelaus, king of Sparta and husband of Helen, is presented as a formidable warrior rather than merely a political figure. His killing of Pylaemenes is one of several battlefield victories attributed to him during the poem.

A common mix-up comes from Pylaemenes' son, Harpalion, who appears later in the poem. Harpalion is killed by Meriones, a Cretan warrior fighting for the Greeks—not by Menelaus. Pylaemenes himself is specifically associated with Menelaus in Iliad 5.576 and following lines. The name also belongs to a separate suitor of Penelope in later myth, adding another possible source of confusion.