| Andromache | |
|---|---|
Princess of Troy Queen of Epirus | |
 | |
| Abode | Troy,Epirus |
| Genealogy | |
| Parents |
|
| Siblings | 7 brothers, includingPodes |
| Spouse | (1)Hector (2)Helenus |
| Offspring | (1)Astyanax,Laodamas,Oxynios (2)Cestrinus Illegitimate:[a] Molossus, Pielus,Pergamus |
InGreek mythology,Andromache (/ænˈdrɒməkiː/;Ancient Greek:Ἀνδρομάχη,Andromákhē[andromákʰɛ:]) was the wife ofHector, daughter ofEetion, and sister toPodes.[1] She was born and raised in the city ofCilician Thebe, over which her father ruled. The name means "man battler", "fighter of men" or "man's battle", i.e. "courage" or "manly virtue", from the Greek stemἀνδρ- ("man"), thecompoundinterfix-ο- andμάχη ("battle").[2]
Following theTrojan War, afterAchilles had killed Hector and Troy had been captured and sacked by the Greeks, the Greek heraldTalthybius informed her of a plan to killAstyanax, her son by Hector, by throwing him from the city walls. This act was carried out byNeoptolemus who then took Andromache as a concubine and Hector's brother,Helenus, as a slave.[3] By Neoptolemus, she was the mother ofMolossus, and according toPausanias,[4] ofPielus andPergamus. When Neoptolemus died, Andromache married Helenus and became Queen ofEpirus. Pausanias also implies that Helenus' son,Cestrinus, was by Andromache. In Epirus Andromache faithfully continued to make offerings at Hector'scenotaph.[5] Andromache eventually went to live with her youngest son, Pergamus inPergamum, where she died of old age. Andromache was famous for her fidelity and virtue; her character represents the suffering of Trojan women during war.[5]
Andromache was described by the chroniclerMalalas in his account of theChronography as "above average height, thin, well turned out, good nose, good breasts, good eyes, good brows, wooly hair, blondish hair long in back, large-featured, good neck, dimples on her cheeks, charming, quick".[6] Meanwhile, in the account ofDares the Phrygian, she was illustrated as "...bright-eyed and fair, with a tall and beautiful body. She was modest, wise, chaste, and charming."[7]
Andromache was born inCilician Thebe, a city that theAchaeans later sacked, with Achilles killing her fatherEetion and seven brothers.[8] After this, her mother died of illness (6.425). She was taken from her father's household by Hector, who had brought countless wedding-gifts (22.470–72). ThusPriam's household alone provides Andromache with her only familial support. In contrast to the inappropriate relationship ofParis andHelen, Hector and Andromache fit the Greek ideal of a happy and productive marriage, which heightens the tragedy of their shared misfortune. Andromache and Hector have a son together, named Scamandrius but calledAstyanax by both the people of Troy and Homer.[9] According to some accounts, they had other children includingOxynios[10] andLaodamas.[11]
Andromache is alone afterTroy falls and her son is killed. Notably, Andromache remains unnamed inIliad 22, referred to only as the wife of Hector (Greekalokhos), indicating the centrality of her status as Hector's wife and of the marriage itself to her identity.[12] The Greeks divide the Trojan women as spoils of war and permanently separate them from the ruins of Troy and from one another. Hector's fears of her life as a captive woman are realized as her family is entirely stripped from her by the violence of war, as she fulfills the fate of conquered women in ancient warfare (6.450–465). Without her familial structure, Andromache is a displaced woman who must live outside familiar and even safe societal boundaries.
| Trojan War |
|---|
 |
Trojans and allies |
After Troy falls, Andromache is given as a concubine toNeoptolemus, also called Pyrrhus, son ofAchilles, after her son Astyanax is murdered at the suggestion ofOdysseus, who fears he will grow up to avenge his father Hector.[3] She goes with him to Phthia, whereThetis andPeleus, the parents of Achilles, lived.[13] Hyginus calls her sonAmphialus,[14] while Euripides gives his name asMolossus[13] and Pausanias says that she has three children, named Molossus, Pielus andPergamus.[4] In Euripides'Andromache, Hermione, the wife of Neoptolemus and daughter of Helen andMenelaus, tries to kill Andromache because she believes Andromache has cursed her with infertility. In the play, Neoptolemus is killed byOrestes, who marries Hermione, and the goddessThetis announces that Andromache will marry her ex-brother-in-lawHelenus and live with him in "the land of the Molossians", where her son Molossus will start "an unbroken succession of kings who will live happy lives".[13] In Pausanias' account Helenus' sonCestrinus was the child of Andromache.[4]Aeneas also visits Andromache and Helenus when they are living in Buthrotum, Chaonia, where Helenus gives him a prophecy and Andromache brings robes and a Phrygian cloak for Aeneas' son Ascanius and tells him he is "the sole image left to [her] of [her] Astyanax".[15] Because Buthrotum functions as a hollow replica of the once-vibrant, razed Troy in theAeneid, Andromache's dedications to the city—particularly Hector's grave—represent her dedication to her family and people.[15] Andromache's actions after the fall of Troy thus reaffirm her virtuousness represented throughout Homer'sIliad and Vergil'sAeneid. Pausanias, writing in the 2nd century AD, says that "there is still a shrine [to Andromache] in the city" that was named after her son Pergamus.[4]
Andromache's gradual discovery of her husband's death and her immediate lamentation (22.437–515) culminate the shorter lamentations of Priam andHecuba upon Hector's death (22.405–36). In accordance with traditional customs of mourning, Andromache responds with an immediate and impulsive outburst of grief (goos) that begins the ritual lamentation.[16] She casts away her various pieces of headdress (22.468–72) and leads the Trojan women in ritual mourning, both of which they did (22.405–36). Although Andromache adheres to the formal practice of female lamentation in Homeric epic,[17] the raw emotion of her discovery yields a miserable beginning to a new era in her life without her husband and, ultimately, without a home. The final stage of the mourning process occurs inIliad 24 in the formal, communal grieving (thrēnos) upon the return of Hector's body (24.703–804). In a fragment ofEnnius'Andromacha, quoted byCicero in the Tusculan Disputations (3.44–46), Andromacha sings about her loss of Hector.[18]
InIliad 22, Andromache is portrayed as the perfect wife, weaving a cloak for her husband in the innermost chambers of the house and preparing a bath in anticipation of his return from battle (22.440–6). Here she is carrying out an action Hector had ordered her to perform during their conversation inIliad 6 (6.490–92), and this obedience is another display of womanly virtue in Homer's eyes.[19] However, Andromache is seen inIliad 6 in an unusual place for the traditional housewife, standing before the ramparts of Troy (6.370–373). Traditional gender roles are breached as well, as Andromache gives Hector military advice (6.433–439). Although her behavior may seem nontraditional, hard times disrupt the separate spheres of men and women, requiring a shared civic response to the defence of the city as a whole.[20] Andromache's sudden tactical lecture is a way to keep Hector close, by guarding a section of the wall instead of fighting out in the plains. Andromache's role as a mother, a fundamental element of her position in marriage, is emphasized within this same conversation. Their infant son, Astyanax, is also present at the ramparts as a maid tends to him. Hector takes his son from the maid, yet returns him to his wife, a small action that provides great insight into the importance Homer placed on her care-taking duties as mother (6.466–483). A bonding moment between mother and father occurs in this scene when Hector's helmet scares Astyanax, providing a moment of light relief in the story. After Hector's death inIliad 22, Andromache's foremost concern is Astyanax's fate as a mistreated orphan (22.477–514).
Andromache is the subject of a tragedy by French classical playwrightJean Racine (1639–1699), entitledAndromaque, and a minor character inShakespeare'sTroilus and Cressida. "The Andromache" is referenced in The Duc De L'Omelette written by Edgar Allan Poe in published in 1832. In 1857, she also importantly appears inBaudelaire's poem, "Le Cygne", inLes Fleurs du Mal. Andromache is the subject of a 1932opera by German composerHerbert Windt and also a lyric scena for soprano and orchestra bySamuel Barber. She was portrayed byVanessa Redgrave in the 1971 film version of Euripides'The Trojan Women, and bySaffron Burrows in the 2004 filmTroy. She also appears as a character inDavid Gemmell'sTroy series. In the 2018 TV miniseriesTroy: Fall of a City, she was portrayed byChloe Pirrie.[22] Andromache is one of the main characters of the 2023 fictional retelling of Troy,Horses of Fire by A.D. Rhine (pseudonym of Ashlee Cowles and Danielle Stinson).[23]
