In Greek mythology, Poludamas or Polydamas was a lieutenant and friend of Hector during the Trojan War. They were born on the same night. Since Homer, in the Iliad, makes no reference to his ancestry (except to note that he is the son of Panthous), he is apparently a commoner, or in any event not a member of the royal house of Troy. During the battles described in the Iliad, he often proposes a cautious battle strategy which is sometimes accepted but more often refused by Hector, who prefers direct attack. In Book XVIII of the Iliad, Polydamas advises the Trojans to retire from the battlefield after the death of Patroclus. Hector, however, overrules Poludamas, leaving the army in the field when Achilles ends his feud with Agamemnon and rejoins the Achaean forces. As a result, Achilles kills a great number of Trojan warriors, culminating in a duel with Hector in which the latter is killed. Homer gives no foreshadowing of Poludamas's final fate, nor is he mentioned in later poems dealing with the aftermath of the war, leaving the reader to infer that he perished in the general slaughter after the fall of Troy to the Greek forces.
