Who was the king of Troy during the Iliad?

Priam was the king of Troy during the Iliad. He is the aging ruler of the city and the father of Hector, Paris, and many other children. His reign is defined by the Trojan War, which threatens both his kingdom and his family.

Priam is not usually portrayed as Troy’s main battlefield commander; that role belongs especially to his son Hector. Instead, Priam represents the city’s royal household and its vulnerable older generation. In one of the Iliad’s most moving scenes, he secretly enters the Greek camp and kneels before Achilles to ask for Hector’s body after Achilles has killed him.

Readers sometimes confuse Priam with Paris, whose abduction or elopement with Helen helps trigger the conflict, or with Menelaus and Agamemnon, who lead the opposing Greek side. Priam is also different from Laomedon, an earlier king of Troy. The Iliad ends before Troy’s final fall, so Priam’s death and the city’s destruction belong to later parts of the Trojan War tradition.