Cassandra/Definition

A character from Greek mythology who was the daughter of King Priam and Hecabe, and sister of Hector and Paris. She had the gift of prophecy but was also cursed in that no one would believe her accurate predictions. During the Sack of Troy near the end of the Trojan War, she was dragged into the temple of Athena and raped by Aias the Lesser, which outraged the gods and goddesses, and motivated Athena to turn against the Greeks. Source: Elizabeth Vandiver, Classics scholar, authority on Greek mythology and Greek tragedy, including the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Homer, and Virgil. This definition is based on her course Classical Mythology for The Teaching Company.