Hector of Iliad

Hector of Iliad

According to the author of the Iliad, Hector does not approve of war between the Greeks and the Trojans. Observing Paris avoiding combat with Menelaus, he upbraids him with having brought trouble on his whole country and now refusing to fight. Paris therefore proposes single combat between himself and Menelaus, with Helen to go to the victor, ending the war. The duel, however, leads to inconclusive results due to divine intervention. Aphrodite leads Paris off the field. Menelaus claims a victory, but Pandarus wounds him from cover with an arrow, causing the war to begin again.

The Greeks attack and drive the Trojans back. Hector must now go out to lead a counter-attack. His wife, Andromache, carrying in her arms their son Astyanax, intercepts him at the gate, pleading with him not to go out for her sake as well as his son's. Hector knows that Troy and the house of Priam are doomed to fall and that the gloomy fate of his wife and infant son will be to die or go into slavery in a foreign land. With understanding, compassion, and tenderness he explains that he cannot personally refuse to fight, and comforts her with the idea that no one can take him until it is his time to go. The gleaming bronze helmet frightens Astyanax and makes him cry. Hector takes it off, embraces his wife and son, and for her sake prays aloud to Zeus that his son might be chief after him and become more glorious in battle than he.

Hector and Paris pass through the gate and rally the Trojans, raising havoc among the Greeks. At the advice of his brother, Helenus (who also is divinely inspired), Hector, being told by Helenus that he is not fated to die yet, manages to get ...