During the Trojan War, Teucer was mainly a great
archer, who loosed his shafts from behind the giant shield of his half-brother Ajax the Great. When
Hector was driving the
Achaeans back toward their ships, Teucer gave the
Argives some success by killing many of the charging Trojans, including Hector's charioteer, Archeptolemus son of
Iphitos. However, every time he shot an arrow at Hector,
Apollo, the protector of the Trojans, would foil the shot. At one point in his rage at Teucer's success, Hector picked up a huge rock and flung it at him. The rock injured Teucer, so that he retired from the fighting for a time. He took up a spear to fight in the war after his bow was broken by Zeus. He once again challenged Hector, and narrowly avoided the path of Hector's flying javelin in the ensuing battle. He was also one of the
Danaans to enter the
Trojan Horse. In total, Teucer slew thirty Trojans during the war; of those Homer mentions
Aretaon,
Orsilochus,
Ormenus,
Ophelestes,
Daetor,
Chromius,
Lycophontes,
Amopaon,
Melanippus,
Prothoon and
Periphetes, as well as the aforementioned Archeptolemus. He also wounded
Glaucus, son of
Hippolochus. After Ajax's suicide, Teucer guarded the body to make sure it was buried, insulting
Menelaus and
Agamemnon when they tried to stop the burial. Finally,
Odysseus persuaded Agamemnon to let the burial happen. Because of his half-brother's suicide, Teucer stood trial before his father, where he was found guilty of negligence for not bringing his dead half-brother's body or his arms back with him. He was disowned by his father, was not allowed back on Salamis Island, and set out to find a new home. His departing words were introduced in the seventh ode of the first book of the Roman poet
Horace's Odes, in which he exhorts his companions "
nil desperandum", "do not despair", and announces "
cras ingens iterabimus aequor", "tomorrow we shall set out upon the vast ocean". This speech has been given a wider applicability in relation to the theme of voyages of discovery, also found in the
Ulysses of
Tennyson. Teucer eventually joined King
Belus of
Tyre in his campaign against Cyprus, and when the island was seized, Belus handed it over to him in reward for his assistance. Teucer founded the city of
Salamis on Cyprus, which he named after his home state. He further married Eune, daughter of
Cinyras, king of Cyprus, and had by her a daughter Asteria.
Anaxarete of Cyprus was called "a proud princess in the line of Teucer's descendants". The name Teucer is believed to be related to the name of the West Hittite God Tarku (East Hittite Teshub)—the
Indo-European Storm God—a role which explains his relationship to Belus, who is associated with the Carthaginian god
Baal Hammon. Local legends of the city of
Pontevedra (
Galicia) relate the foundation of this city to Teucer (
Teucro), although this seems to be based more on the suspicions that Greek traders might have reached that area in ancient times, hence introducing a number of Greek stories. The city is sometimes poetically called "The City of Teucer" and its inhabitants
teucrinos. A number of sporting clubs in the municipality use names related to Teucer. Some versions of the legend say that Teucer reached Galicia by following a sea nymph or mermaid called Leucoina, while others point to her as the cause of his death, when the hero drowned trying to reach her. ==Notes==