This was a small wooden figure, which they used to say was enchanted, guarding the kingdom of Troy; it was given to King Tros, when he was founding the city, by Asios, a certain philosopher and priest;[1] hence, no doubt, it was to honour Asios that he named Asia the territory over which he was king, previously called Epeiros. But those who wrote poems [sc. about this] said that this palladion [came] out of the sky and was taken back to Tros when he was ruling the Phrygians. Diomedes [Author, Myth] and Odysseus, when they made their embassy to Priam,[2] stole this from the temple; they had been given it beforehand by Theano, the wife of Antenor [Author, Myth],[3] who happened to be a priestess and its guardian; for they learned from an oracle and Antenor that as long as the palladion remained in Troy the kingdom of the Phrygians would be unshaken. Great dissension therefore arose between Ajax and Odysseus, [about] who would take this back to their own country, with the other kings and leaders adjudicating between them. Much discussion was generated and, as evening came on, they reached a decision to entrust the image to Diomedes until the following morning. And that is what happened; but during the night Ajax was found mysteriously murdered. The suspicion was that Odysseus had killed him by deceit. And after quarrelling with each other they sailed away.
See in the [entry] 'Diomedean compulsion'.[4]