A fresco from Herculaneum depicting Heracles and Achelous from Greco-Roman mythology, 1st century CE

King Laomedon of Troy had cheated Hercules out of promised horses. Hercules assembled a fleet, sacked Troy, and killed Laomedon and all his sons — except Priam, whom he spared. This was the first sack of Troy, a full generation before the Trojan War of Achilles.