1-156-073 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

Cassandra, legendary Trojan prophetess, 16th century. In Greek mythology, Cassandra was the daughter of Priam, king of Troy, and Hecuba. She rejected Apollo's advances, so he caused no-one to believe her prophecies, even though usually true. Considered to be a prophet of doom, she appears as a character in Homer, and in both Chaucer's and in Shakespeare's versions of the story of Troilus and Cressida.