Menestheus was one of the suitors of
Helen of Troy, and when the
Trojan War started he brought "fifty black ships" to
Troy. In the
Iliad, it is noted that no one could arrange chariots and shield-bearing warriors in battle orders better than Menestheus, and that only
Nestor could vie with him in that respect. In
Herodotus, he is referred to as 'the best man to go to Troy and to draw up and marshal the troops' by the Athenian sent to request aid from
Gelon, the dictator of
Syracuse. Yet, further, he is characterised as not valiant. When
Agamemnon was reviewing his troops he found Menestheus in the back rows seemingly avoiding action. Later, when
Sarpedon attacked the portion of the Greek wall that he was in charge of, Menestheus shivered and had to call on
Telamonian Ajax and
Teucer for aid. Menestheus was one of the warriors in the
Trojan Horse. After Troy was sacked, he sailed to
Mimas, then to
Melos where he became king. When Menestheus died, Athens passed back to the family of
Theseus, with Theseus' youngest son Demophon ascending to the throne. == Eponym ==