Hera: Daughter of
Zeus, can you and I look on, without a
final effort, while the Achaeans perish? For that
they will, and miserably too, mowed down by a
single man. See what Hector has done to them
already. And now there is no stopping him in his
mad career.
Athena: Nothing could please me more than
to see that mad career cut short and have him
killed on his native soil by Achaean hands. But my
father is in a wicked mood, obstinate old sinner
that he is.
[Homer,
Iliad
8.350]
"Hector is going to give
his enemies no rest until Achilles comes to life again beside his
ships on the day when at the sterns of the ships
they shall be fighting about Patroclus fallen. That is decreed by
Heaven." [Zeus to
Hera. Homer,
Iliad
8.475]
"Agamemnon has built a wall and dug a trench
along it, complete with palisade. But even so he
cannot keep the murderous Hector out! But so long
as I was fighting with the Achaeans Hector had no
mind to go into battle at any distance from the
city walls. He came no farther than the Scaean Gate
and the oak-tree, where he met me one day, and was
lucky to get home alive."
[Achilles to
Odysseus. Homer,
Iliad
9.350]
"As for Hector and his
griefs, hear how the case stands; he is dead and
gone, but still his
Fame remains as bravest of the brave,
and this was a result of the Achaeans' coming; for
had they remained at home, his worth would have
gone unnoticed."
[Cassandra. Euripides,
Daughters
of Troy 394]
"We praise not Hector;
though his name, we know,
Is great in arms; 'tis hard to praise a foe."
[Nestor. Ovid,
Metamorphoses
12.550]
"I love to speak plain
truth always; nature did not give me a double
tongue." [Hector 1 to
Rhesus 2. Euripides,
Rhesus
395]
|
|
Hector 1, of the flashing helm, was the eldest
among the children of King
Priam 1 of
Troy and
Hecabe 1. He was
expected to become king of
Troy after his father. But
as the city was attacked by the Achaean invaders,
he became the leader of the alliance defending
Troy. In the tenth year of
the war Hector 1 was killed, and the kingdom that
was his inheritance was destroyed.
|
|
Unknown childhood of the pillar of
Troy
|
Nothing is told about the childhood of Hector 1
nor on his life before the
Trojan War. This man
came to be known for his courageous interventions
during the Trojan War
and for being the very fundament of the defence of
the city. And yet some have said that before the
Trojan War, Hector 1
came to Hellas, and having taken the city of
Troezen, carried away
Aethra 2, mother of
Theseus, and took her to
Troy [for another version
of the abduction of Aethra 2 see
Helen].
Anyhow Hector 1 became the pillar of the city.
And when the Achaeans talked, planned or dreamt
about the destruction of
Troy, they seldom failed to
mention the need of killing its mighty defender, if
that aim was to be achieved.
|
|
Thinks his brother is a curse
|
Hector 1 fulfilled his duty as defender and
commander of the troops without hesitation.
However, he was visibly annoyed with his brother
Paris, who, through the
abduction of Helen, had
caused the conflict that threatened the existence
of Troy. That is why he
could address Paris thus:
"Paris, you pretty boy, you woman
seducer, why were you ever born? Why weren't you
killed before your wedding day?" [Hector 1
to Paris. Homer,
Iliad
3.39]
And as Paris was
reluctant to meet
Menelaus in single
combat, Hector 1 reproached him:
"Can you be
the man who carried off a beautiful woman from a
distant land and warlike family, to be a curse to
your father, to the city, and to the whole people?
Are you too cowardly to stand up to the brave man
whom you wronged? You would soon find out the kind
of fighter he is whose lovely wife you
stole." [Hector 1 to
Paris. Homer,
Iliad
3.45]
At a later time he would admonish
Paris with similar words:
"It is your
fault that this city is invaded by the sounds of
battle." [Hector 1 to
Paris. Homer,
Iliad
6.327]
|
|
Temporary Trojan victory
|
The Trojans were fated, by the will of
Zeus, to win several
victories during the last year of the war. And that
was so, because the god, having heard the prayers
of Thetis, had decided to punish Agamemnon's
pride and the Achaeans for the outrage
Achilles had suffered
when his sweetheart
Briseis was taken away
from him. And so, while
Achilles nursed his
bitter wrath and refused to fight,
Zeus gave victory and glory
to Hector 1, who killed many warriors, and finally
threatened the Achaean fleet.
|
|
Pious and temperate man
|
A pious man was Hector 1, for he would not offer
a libation to the gods with unwashed hands, or pray
while being bespattered with blood and filth. He
was also a temperate man, for he would abstain,
during a break in the battle, to drink
wine, feeling it would
cripple him, and make him forgetful of his courage.
And yet it was his own mother who offered it with
reasonable words:
"Wine is a great comfort to a weary man;
and you must be exhausted after fighting so hard
for your dear ones."
[Hecabe 1 to
Hector 1. Homer,
Iliad
6.260]
|
|
Aware of his duty
|
Hector 1 never hesitated and was always dutiful.
He never rested when he had tasks in front of him.
Also Helen invited him to
a short pause, but he refused:
Helen:
Come in now, my dear brother,
and sit down on this chair. No one in
Troy has a greater burden to bear than
you, all through my own shame and the wickedness of
Paris.
Hector 1: Helen, you are kind, but do not ask me
to sit down. I am late already and anxious to
return and help the Trojans, who miss me terribly
when I am gone.
[Homer,
Iliad
6.355]
|
|
Premonitions
|
And this devotion towards his duty, which he
recognizes as defence of country and family, does
not fade in front of the inevitable disaster, for
Hector 1 himself acknowledges that his efforts will
be fruitless:
"Deep in my
heart I know the day is coming when
Troy will be destroyed." [Hector
1 to Andromache.
Homer,
Iliad,
6.445]
|
|
Prophetic feelings
|
And, as if a prophetic vision had seized him, he
laments what in fact will take place: the death of
his father and brothers, and
Andromache's lost
freedom. Thus, seeing the future as if it were
displayed in front of his eyes, he cannot see the
point in trying to spare his own life, and so
suffer hearing the screams of his own wife as the
enemy drags her off.
|
|
Andromache's
appeal
|
Andromache begs
him to live:
"You, Hector,
are father and mother and brother to me, as well as
my beloved husband. Have pity on me now; stay here
in the city, and do not make your boy an orphan and
your wife a widow."
[Andromache to Hector
1. Homer,
Iliad
6.430]
But he tells
Andromache what he
knows people in a foreign country who see her as
prisoner will say:
"There goes
the wife of Hector, who was the champion of the
Trojans when
Troy was besieged". [Hector 1 to
Andromache. Homer,
Iliad
6.460]
This proved to be true, for later being in
Hellas she lamented:
"In days gone
by I was a woman to be envied, but now I am, if any
woman ever was, the paragon of misery. I have many
things, not one, to lament, my native land, the
death of Hector, and the hard lot to which I have
been yoked when I fell undeservedly into
slavery."
[Andromache.
Euripides,
Andromache
5]
|
|
Blind again in front of his child
|
And yet, when kissing his little child Astyanax
2, he cannot see his fate and prays to the gods
what will prove impossible:
"Grant that
this boy of mine be as strong and brave as I; a
mighty king of
Troy." [Hector 1. Homer,
Iliad
6.475]
|
|
Single combat and the gift of an enemy
|
In one occasion, Hector 1 and the Achaean
champion Ajax 1 fought in
single combat that was without issue because the
heralds parted them as the night was coming. In
recognition of their courage the contenders
exchanged gifts. But, as it is said, the gifts of
enemies bring no good, for
Ajax 1 gave Hector 1 the
belt by which he was later dragged by
Achilles, and Hector 1
gave Ajax 1 the sword with
which he killed himself.
|
|
Those killed by Hector 1
|
Man-slaying Hector 1 killed many Achaeans:
|
Amphimachus 1
|
Leader of Elis,
son of Cteatus & Theronice.
|
|
Anchialus 1 and Menesthes 1
|
These two were riding the same chariot
when Hector 1 attacked them.
|
|
Antilochus
|
Son of
Nestor, but some
say he was killed by the Ethiopian
Memnon.
|
|
Archesilaus
|
Leader of the Boeotians and son of
Areilycus 1 & Theobula 1.
|
|
Coeranus 1
|
The squire of Meriones, a leader from
Crete.
|
|
Dolops 1
|
son of Clytius 1.
|
|
Epigeus
|
One of the best in the Myrmidon force,
son of Agacles.
|
|
Lycophron
|
Son of Mastor 1 and a Cytherian squire
of Ajax 1.
|
|
Oresbius 1
|
A rich man who lived in Hyle, a city in
Boeotia.
|
|
Periphetes 1
|
A Mycenaean warrior son of Copreus, who
was himself son of
Pelops 1 and
herald of
Eurystheus
[see also
Heracles 1].
|
|
Protesilaus
|
Leader from Phylace, a Thessalian city
west of the Gulf of Pagasae; Protesilaus
was the first of the Achaeans to land on
Trojan soil, and the first of the Achaeans
to be killed in the war. But some say that
he was killed by a Dardanian leader or by
Cycnus 1, ruler of Colonae, a city in the
Troad.
|
|
Schedius 1
|
Leader of Phocis, a region bordering
the Gulf of
Corinth west of
Boeotia, and son of the Argonaut Iphitus
2.
|
|
Schedius 3
|
Another Phocian, son of Perimedes 3.
|
|
Stichius
|
An Athenian who carried the body of
Amphimachus 1 off the battlefield and
later supported Menestheus 1 against the
attacks of Hector 1.
|
|
Trechus
|
An Aetolian spearman.
|
|
Hector 1 also killed:
Aesymnus, Agelaus 7, Asaeus, Autonous
1, Eioneus 1, Helenus 3, Hipponous 3,
Oenomaus 2, Opheltius 2, Opites, Orestes
3, Orus 2,
Patroclus 1,
and Teuthras 1.
|
|
|
Zeus gives glory to
Hector 1
|
Zeus had promised Thetis
to honour her son
Achilles, and so the
god showed the Achaeans, through defeat's bitter
lesson, the value of the man they had offended,
letting the Trojans win.
Zeus even sent
Iris 1 with a message to
Hector 1, letting him learn that when Agamemnon
would be wounded, that was the signal for him to
attack and slay warriors until he reached the
Achaean ships.
|
|
Does not believe in omens
|
However, when this was about to happen and the
Trojans were preparing to break the Achaean defence
and were standing at the trench ready to cross, a
portent appeared to them. They saw an eagle holding
a blood-red snake in his talons. The snake was
alive, and suddenly it bit the eagle on the breast,
and the bird had to drop it before he reached his
nest. Some Trojans understood this omen thus: that
even if they succeeded in breaking the Achaean
wall, they would not be able to set the ships
afire, that many warrior would die, and that
finally they would have to return to the city
without having achieved complete victory. But
Hector 1, who felt he had been promised glory by
Zeus, said that he was not
to base his actions on the flight of birds, and so
he gave the signal to advance.
|
|
Zeus looks away
|
And in fact that was Hector 1's day of glory and
victory, for the defences were broken and the
Achaeans were driven in rout among the ships.
Having achieved this, Zeus
turned his eyes elsewhere, deeming that no other
god would ever dare to intervene, as he had
strictly forbidden them to help anybody in battle.
But Poseidon, seeing
that Zeus' attention was
not in the battlefield, came to where the fight
was, and assuming the seer
Calchas' shape, gave the
Achaeans renewed courage.
|
|
Zeus restores the chain
of events
|
When Zeus discovered
what had happened, and that even the life of Hector
1 had been in danger, he soon reestablished the
line of action he had decided, letting the Trojans
reach the Achaean ships and Hector 1 win a victory,
in order to fulfill the prayer of Thetis. But
Zeus was only waiting for
the glare of a burning ship; for from that time
forth, he would grant glory to the Achaeans, and
let the Trojans be defeated.
|
|
Death of Patroclus
1
|
When one of the ships caught fire,
Achilles perceived the
gravity of the situation, and letting go a part of
his wrath, he let his friend
Patroclus 1 go into
battle with a force of Myrmidons. But as it had
been predicted, Hector 1 killed
Patroclus 1, who
before dying said:
"You too, I
swear it, have not long to live. Already Destiny
and Death are very close to you, and you will die
at the hands of
Achilles."
[Patroclus 1,
dying, to Hector 1. Homer,
Iliad
16.850]
|
|
Not ready to concede
Patroclus 1 what he
later asked of Achilles
|
When Hector 1 had killed
Patroclus 1, he
intended to behead the corpse, drag it off, and
give it to the dogs of
Troy, but the body was
finally retrieved by the Achaeans. Yet he kept
Achilles' armour, which
Patroclus 1 had worn.
|
|
Achilles honoured,
and yet disappointed
|
All these dead Achaeans were in fact the work of
Zeus, for the god punished
them for having offended
Achilles. And yet
Achilles could now say:
"It is true
that Zeus has done that much in my behalf.
But what satisfaction can I get from that, now that
my dearest friend Patroclus is dead? I have no wish to live
unless Hector falls by my spear and dies."
[Achilles to his
mother Thetis. Homer,
Iliad
18.80]
|
|
Thetis understands that nothing can save her son
|
Now it became clear for Thetis that all her
efforts to honour her child led to his destruction,
and that is why she, weeping, warns him a last
time:
"If that is
so, you surely have not long to live; for after
Hector's death you are doomed to die
immediately." [Thetis to
Achilles. Homer,
Iliad
18.95]
|
|
Achilles comes back
|
But death is nothing to
Achilles now, for he
feels that his wrath had transformed him into an
idle burden, and that he failed to save his friend
and many others from death. So after having
received a new armour from
Hephaestus and having
put and end to his feud with Agamemnon,
he went in search of Hector 1 and death.
|
|
Hector 1 decides to meet destiny
|
Hector 1 was not less decided to meet his own
fate. So he said to the Trojans:
"I am going to
meet
Achilles, though his hands are like fire,
and his heart like steel." [Hector 1. Homer,
Iliad
20.370]
It is not decisive who was stronger, because as
they saw it, these things were in the knees of the
gods, and it may very well happen that heaven lets
the weaker man win. For in fact, no one can tell on
whose head fortune will land next time.
|
|
Worried parents
|
King Priam 1 tried to
dissuade his son from fighting a man, son of a
goddess, far stronger than himself. And the same
did his mother Hecabe 1,
who exhorted him to fight within the walls of the
city, instead of meeting the savage
Achilles in single
combat. They resorted both to reason and tears, but
all their entreaties were wasted on this son, and
they failed to shake Hector 1's resolution.
|
|
The crucial moment comes with doubts
|
And yet when the crucial moment approached and
Hector 1 was waiting for
Achilles, many doubts
appeared in his thoughts: Should he had withdrawn
the army when Achilles
came to life again? Would not the Trojans say that
he trusted his own arm and lost his army? Could he
not make overtures to
Achilles, and for
example, deliver Helen and
the property Paris stole
from Sparta? Could he not
propose to share all the rest of the Trojan
possessions with the Achaeans?
|
|
Thoughts of a man in danger
|
Many things may be thought by a man in danger,
trying to figure up how the present nightmare might
be averted. So there was almost no thought or
possible solution that Hector 1 did not consider at
that moment. And he even thought of inducing his
countrymen to swear in council that they would hide
nothing, but divide all the Trojan property in two
equal parts, to be shared with the enemy. For
peace, agreement, and sharing, which seldom awake
enthusiasm when they in daily life are taken for
granted, become the object of profound longing when
they are lost.
|
|
Courage may fail the bravest
|
Hector 1's inward debate was followed by the
kind of prophetic inspiration he had in his
dialogue with his wife
Andromache [see
above]. When he caught sight of
Achilles, feeling that
something terrible was about to happen, he began to
tremble, and losing heart he ran away in terror. So
the combat started like a race with Hector 1 in
front and Achilles
behind, pursuing him round the city of
Troy. So they went on until
Zeus, lifting his golden
scales and weighing their sentences of death, saw
the side of Hector 1 come down, spelling his doom.
Then Apollo, who up to
that point had protected Hector 1, deserted him,
and Athena, who wished to
help Achilles, assuming
the shape of Deiphobus 1, brother of Hector 1, came
to him and convinced him of making a stand and face
Achilles, both
together, she said.
|
|
Death
|
That is how Hector 1 finally decided to stop
running and fight. But very soon, having discovered
that there was no Deiphobus 1 by his side, Hector 1
realized that the gods had fooled him, that death
was not far away, and that he was about to face his
doom. This came quickly, for
Achilles' lance wounded
him mortally in the neck. In vain Hector 1 begged
Achilles not to give
his body to the dogs. And as if men became prophets
in front of death he said to
Achilles:
"Your heart is
hard as iron. Nevertheless, pause before you act,
in case the angry gods remember how you treated me,
when your turn comes and you are killed at the
Scaean Gate by
Paris and
Apollo." [Hector 1 to
Achilles. Homer,
Iliad
22.355].
|
|
Body outraged
|
The soul of Hector 1 descended to
Hades lamenting, as
they say, its lot and the youth it was leaving, but
his body Achilles
outraged in a shameful way. He pierced the tendons
at the back of his feet from the heel to the ankle,
and having inserted leather straps (the belt of
Ajax 1), he bound them to
his chariot, leaving the head to trail. And having
done this, he drove the chariot in front of the
walls and round the city, while the head of Hector
1 tumbled against the ground.
It was not before hard negotiations, during a
humiliating meeting with King
Priam 1, that
Achilles accepted the
body to be ransomed by the father of the man he had
killed.
When Hecabe 1 was
taken away as a prize by
Odysseus from the
sacked Troy, she carried the ashes of her son, for
it has been chanted:
Yet Hector's
ashes from his urn she bore,
And in her bosom the sad relic wore:
Then scatter'd on his tomb her hoary hairs,
A poor oblation mingled with her tears.
[Ovid,
Metamorphoses
13.425]
|
|
Epilogue
|
In such a way fell he who had been the first
among the Trojan warriors, and the one who was to
become king of Troy, had
not the city been destroyed. His wife
Andromache was given
as a prize to Achilles'
son Neoptolemus, and
had a child Amphialus 1 by him. At
Neoptolemus' death,
Andromache married
Helenus 1, a seer and
brother of Hector 1, who became king of Epirus.
Little Astyanax 2 was thrown down by the Achaeans,
from the battlements at
Troy. Some say that
Neoptolemus
performed this deed, but others say that it was
Odysseus who murdered
little Astyanax 2. However, in spite of all rumours
about his death, he is also said to have been taken
by Neoptolemus and
later allowed to return home from Hellas, becoming
king of Scepsis, a place near Mt. Ida, not far away
from Troy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Achaeans murder little
Astyanax 2, the son of Hector 1
|
|
|
Another with identical name
|
Hector 2 is a king of Chios.
|
|