A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Cassandra
CASSANDRA,
Daughter of Priam, King of Troy, was regarded as a prophetess; and, during the siege of Troy, uttered various predictions of impending calamities, which were disregarded at the time, but verified in the event. During the plunder of the city, B.C 1184, she took refuge in the temple of Minerva, where she was barbarously treated by Ajax. In the division of the spoil, she fell to the lot of Agamemnon, who brought her home, and by this act so excited the jealousy of Clytemnestra, that she devised with her paramour, the means of murdering both her husband and his fair captive. Cassandra is said to have been very beautiful, and to have had many suitors in the flourishing time of Troy. Her prophetic ravings have been introduced with great effect in the works of several poets and dramatists.