Andromache

In Greek mythology, Andromache (Ancient Greek: Ἀνδρομάχη) was the wife of Hector and daughter of Eetion, and sister to Podes. She was born and raised in the city of Cilician Thebes (Thebe under Placus), over which her father ruled. The name means "battle of a man", from ανδρος (andros) "of a man" and μαχη (machē) "battle".^[1] During the Trojan War, Hector was killed by Achilles, and their son Astyanax was thrown from the city walls by the Greeks. Neoptolemus took Andromache as a concubine and Hector's brother, Helenus, as a slave. By Neoptolemus, she was the mother of Molossus, and according to Pausanias (1.11.1), Pielus and Pergamus. When Neoptolemus died, Andromache married Helenus and became Queen of Epirus. Pausanias also implies that Helenus' son, Cestrinus, was by Andromache. Andromache eventually went to live with Pergamus in Pergamum, where she died of old age.

Classical treatment

• Homer. Iliad VI, 390–430
• Apollodorus. Bibliotheke III, xii, 6
• Apollodorus. Epitome V, 23; VI, 12
• Euripides. Andromache
• Virgil. Aeneid III, 294–355

In Euripides' play, she and her child are nearly assassinated by Hermione, Neoptolemus' wife and daughter of Helen. She is also the subject of a tragedy by French classical playwright Jean Racine (1639–1699), entitled Andromaque, and a minor character in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida. She was portrayed by Saffron Burrows in the 2004 film Troy, and by Vanessa Redgrave in the 1971 film version of Euripedes' The Trojan Women.

References