Hector

Hector was a prince of Troy in Greek mythology, son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba. His wife was Andromache and they had a son, Scamandrius, whom the Trojans called Astyanax (Iliad 6.402–403).

Hector was the greatest warrior of Troy and the leader of the Trojan army in the war against the Greeks. In the Iliad he rebukes his brother Paris for bringing the war on the city (Iliad 3.38–57), but he fights it out of duty to Troy. According to Apollodorus, an oracle told the Greeks that the first of them to land at Troy would be the first to die; Protesilaus was the first ashore, and he fell at the hands of Hector (Apollodorus, Epitome 3.29–30).

Who Was Hector of Troy?

Hector was the commander of the Trojan army and the eldest son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba. He is the greatest warrior on the Trojan side in Homer’s “Iliad” and the defender of the city until Achilles kills him (Iliad 22).

• Parents: Priam, king of Troy, and Hecuba, his queen
• Wife: Andromache; son: Astyanax, also called Scamandrius
• Brothers and sisters: Paris, Deiphobus, Helenus, Troilus, Cassandra, Polyxena, and many more
• Killed by: Achilles, in single combat outside the walls of Troy

Hector, Prince of Troy

Hector was a prince rather than a king, because his father Priam ruled Troy throughout the whole war. Apollodorus says that the first son born to Hecuba was Hector (Library 3.12.5).

• He led not only the Trojans but the many allied peoples who had come to defend the city; Homer lists the allies in the Trojan Catalogue (Iliad 2.816–877)
• Priam is old and takes little part in the fighting, so Hector acts as Troy’s effective military leader
• After his death Andromache laments that the city is left without its guardian, and says that their son will be thrown from the wall (Iliad 24.725–745; 22.477–507)
• His son Astyanax was thrown from the battlements by the Greeks after the sack of Troy (Euripides, Trojan Women 719–739, 1133–1135; Apollodorus, Epitome 5.23)

Who Was Hector’s Father?

Hector’s father was Priam, the last king of Troy, and his mother was Queen Hecuba. Priam says that he had fifty sons when the Achaeans came, nineteen of them from one womb, and that Hector, the guardian of the city, was left alone among them until he too was killed (Iliad 24.493–501). Hector was the eldest of the sons Hecuba bore (Apollodorus, Library 3.12.5).

• Homer treats Hector firmly as Priam’s son; Priam says only that Hector “seemed not the child of a mortal man, but of a god” (Iliad 24.258–259)
• Priam himself crosses the plain at night to beg Achilles for Hector’s body (Iliad 24.468–570)
• His most famous brother is Paris, whose abduction of Helen started the war Hector had to fight

Was Hector a Great Warrior?

Hector was the greatest warrior Troy had, admired by his enemies as much as by his own people. He fought the Greek champion Ajax to a standstill, drove the Greeks back to their ships, and killed Patroclus, the closest companion of Achilles.

• Homer’s standing epithet for him is “tamer of horses,” and the “Iliad” ends with those words at his funeral (Iliad 24.804)
• According to Apollodorus he killed Protesilaus, the first Greek ashore at Troy (Epitome 3.30); in the Iliad he kills many named Greeks, among them Patroclus (Iliad 16.818–828)
• He was the only Trojan who could hold the line while Achilles stayed out of the fighting; with Zeus’ backing he reached the Greek ships and seized the stern of the ship of Protesilaus (Iliad 15.696–746)
• He was not, however, a match for Achilles, and he knew it in the last duel (Iliad 22.295–305)

Was Hector of Troy Real?

Hector is known to us from the poems of the ancient Greeks, above all Homer’s “Iliad”. Ancient writers treated him as a figure of the heroic age: Pausanias records an oracle which told the Thebans to bring the bones of Hector, Priam’s son, from Asia to their city and honour him as a hero (Pausanias 9.18.5). The sources available here give no independent record of him outside the poems and the traditions that follow them.

Hector in the Trojan War

Hector and Ajax

Prompted by his brother Helenus, Hector proposed that the two armies stop fighting and that a single combat decide the result; Ajax was chosen by lot from the Greek champions (Iliad 7.44–205). The duel went on until night fell, when the heralds stopped it. The two heroes then exchanged gifts: Hector gave Ajax a silver-studded sword and received a purple belt in return (Iliad 7.206–312).

Hector and Andromache

The most famous scene of Hector away from battle is his farewell to his wife Andromache at the Scaean Gate. She begs him to fight defensively and stay on the walls; he answers that he would be ashamed before the Trojans if he held back, and that he knows in his heart and mind that Troy will fall (Iliad 6.390–465).

• He reaches for his infant son Astyanax, who shrinks back crying in fear at the horsehair crest of his helmet
• Hector laughs, takes off the helmet, and prays that his son will grow up a better man than his father (Iliad 6.466–481)

Hector and Patroclus

Hector killed Patroclus, the dearest friend of Achilles, when Patroclus fought wearing Achilles’ own armour. The killing brought Achilles back into the war.

• Apollo struck Patroclus first and Euphorbus wounded him, before Hector delivered the final blow (Iliad 16.784–857)
• Hector stripped the armour of Achilles from the body and put it on himself (Iliad 17.125–131, 17.186–197)
• With his dying breath, Patroclus told Hector that he would soon be killed by Achilles (Iliad 16.843–861)

Hector and Achilles

The last fight that Hector gave was against Achilles. When Achilles came on, Hector was seized with fear and ran, and Achilles chased him three times around the walls of Troy (Iliad 22.131–166). Athena then took the shape of his brother Deiphobus and persuaded Hector to stand and fight (Iliad 22.226–247). Achilles threw his spear first and missed; Athena gave it back to him unseen. Hector’s own cast hit the shield of Achilles and bounced off. When he called to Deiphobus for another spear, he saw no one there, and understood that he was about to die (Iliad 22.273–305). He drew his sword and rushed at Achilles, who struck him in the gap at the throat (Iliad 22.306–330). Achilles then dragged Hector’s body behind his chariot at the tomb of Patroclus on the days that followed, until the gods pitied Hector and Priam came to ransom him (Iliad 24.14–22, 24.468–676).

Why Did Achilles Kill Hector?

Achilles killed Hector to avenge Patroclus. He had withdrawn from the war after a quarrel with Agamemnon and refused every appeal to return, until Hector killed his companion (Iliad 18.78–93).

• Achilles knew that killing Hector would bring his own death soon after, because his mother Thetis had told him so (Iliad 18.95–99)
• He chased Hector three times around the walls of Troy before Athena, in the form of Deiphobus, made Hector stand his ground (Iliad 22.165–247)
• Hector begged that his body be returned to his family; Achilles refused, and only Priam’s plea later changed his mind (Iliad 22.338–354; 24.485–676)

Hector’s Prophecy and Funeral

As he died, Hector warned Achilles that the gods would punish him when Paris and Apollo killed him at the Scaean Gate (Iliad 22.355–360).

• Apollo covered the body with his golden aegis so that Achilles could not mutilate it (Iliad 24.18–21), and Aphrodite kept the dogs from it (Iliad 23.185–187)
• Priam crossed the plain by night guided by Hermes, entered Achilles’ hut, and kissed the hands of the man who had killed his son (Iliad 24.468–506)
• Achilles agreed to hold back the fighting until the twelfth day for the funeral: nine days of mourning, burial on the tenth, a mound on the eleventh (Iliad 24.656–667). The “Iliad” ends with Hector’s burial (Iliad 24.784–804)

Facts About Hector

The essential facts about Hector can be stated briefly:

• He was the eldest son of Hecuba, one of Priam’s fifty sons (Apollodorus, Library 3.12.5; Iliad 24.493–497)
• His name is Greek, Hektor, and in Plato’s Cratylus Socrates connects it with the verb meaning “to hold” (Cratylus 393)
• His epithet in Homer is “tamer of horses,” and the last line of the “Iliad” belongs to him
• He rebuked Paris for the war he had caused (Iliad 3.38–57)
• He killed Patroclus, and according to Apollodorus the first Greek ashore at Troy, Protesilaus
• He fought Ajax to a draw and the two exchanged gifts in mutual respect
• He never lived to see the Trojan Horse or the fall of his city
• Hector and Achilles were both killed before Troy fell, each of them having been warned of his own death

Unraveling Hector: The Defender of a Doomed City

The “Iliad” is a Greek epic, yet its most sympathetic character fights on the Trojan side. Hector does not leave the war, as Achilles can: he says himself that his wife, his son and his parents are behind the walls, and that he knows Troy will fall (Iliad 6.440–465). He goes out to face Achilles all the same (Iliad 22.247–305). The poem closes with the funeral of Hector, tamer of horses (Iliad 24.804).

Hector Sources

The main source is Homer’s Iliad (books 2, 3, 6, 7, 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23 and 24, as cited above). Also used are Apollodorus’ Library (3.12.5) and Epitome (3.29–30, 5.23), Euripides’ Trojan Women (719–739, 1133–1135), Pausanias (9.18.5) and Plato’s Cratylus (393).

See Also: Priam, Hecuba, Paris, Achilles, Patroclus, Andromache, Astyanax, Ajax, Trojan War