Hecuba

Not to be confused with Euripides’ tragedy Hecuba.

Hecuba or Hecabe was the queen of Troy in Greek mythology, wife of King Priam and mother of Hector, Paris, Cassandra and many other children. In the Iliad she pleads with Hector not to fight Achilles; in later tragedy she is a slave after Troy falls, loses her daughter Polyxena and her son Polydorus, takes revenge on Polymestor, and is turned into a dog.

Family and Marriage

She was the daughter of King Dymas of Phrygia, who lived by the river Sangarius (Homer, Iliad 16.718–719), and her brother was Asius. The sources disagree about her parents: Euripides calls her a daughter of Cisseus (Hecuba 3), and Apollodorus gives Dymas as the usual father but adds Cisseus, or the river Sangarius and Metope, as alternatives (Library 3.12.5). The mother of Hecuba is named differently in different authors, and Homer names none. Priam took her as his second wife after Arisbe (Library 3.12.5).

Children of Hecuba

Apollodorus says that her first son was Hector. When she was about to bear her second child she dreamed that she had given birth to a firebrand which spread over the whole city and burned it; this child was Paris (Alexander), who was exposed on Mount Ida. After him she bore daughters, Creusa, Laodice, Polyxena and Cassandra, and then sons, Deiphobus, Helenus, Pammon, Polites, Antiphus, Hipponous, Polydorus and Troilus, the last said to be a son of Apollo (Library 3.12.5). Troilus was ambushed and killed by Achilles in the sanctuary of Apollo (Apollodorus, Epitome 3.32). In the Iliad Priam says that nineteen of his fifty sons were born from one womb (Iliad 24.495–497); the figure of nineteen children comes from Priam’s count of sons only, and the sources do not give a single total for Hecuba’s children.

Hecuba in the Iliad

Hecuba appears several times in the Iliad. When Hector comes into Troy from the battle he tells her to go with the older women to the temple of Athena and lay the most beautiful robe in the house on the goddess’s knees (Iliad 6.269–278). She goes to the storeroom herself and takes out a robe woven by Sidonian women, one of those Paris had brought from Sidon, the most beautiful and the largest, which shone like a star, as an offering to Athena (Iliad 6.286–295). When Hector waits before the walls to face Achilles she stands on the wall, bares her breast and begs him to have pity on her and come inside (Iliad 22.79–83). After he is killed she leads the women of Troy in lament (Iliad 22.430–436), and when his body is brought home she mourns him as the dearest of her sons (Iliad 24.748–750).

The Fall of Troy

When the Greeks took Troy, the Trojan women were divided among their leaders as slaves. In Euripides’ Trojan Women, Hecuba is allotted to Odysseus as a slave (Trojan Women 277). Her grandson Astyanax, the son of Hector, was thrown from the walls: the Greeks decided on his death, and Odysseus carried the vote (Trojan Women 719–725; Apollodorus, Epitome 5.23). Andromache, before she was taken away, asked that the child be buried in Hector’s bronze shield and given into Hecuba’s arms, so that she might wrap the body in robes for burial (Trojan Women 1133–1143).

Polyxena

Hecuba’s daughter Polyxena was sacrificed on the tomb of Achilles after the sack of Troy (Apollodorus, Epitome 5.23). In Euripides’ Hecuba, the army had voted in assembly that Polyxena should be sacrificed to Achilles, whose ghost had appeared above his tomb in golden armour (Hecuba 107–110, 218–221); Odysseus tells Hecuba and she begs for her daughter in vain. In Ovid, the ghost of Achilles rises from the ground and demands that Polyxena be killed to honour his shade (Metamorphoses 13.439–448).

Polydorus and Polymestor

Hecuba’s youngest son Polydorus had been sent to the Thracian king Polymestor for safety, together with gold. In Euripides’ Hecuba, Polymestor killed him for the gold and threw his body into the sea, where it washed up on the shore (Hecuba 25–28). When a servant woman finds the body, Hecuba learns the truth (Hecuba 658 onwards), and lures Polymestor and his sons into her tent. With the help of the other Trojan women she blinds him and kills his two sons (Hecuba 1049–1053). Ovid tells the same revenge: she gouges out his eyes with her fingers (Metamorphoses 13.556–564).

Hecuba’s Transformation

In Euripides, Polymestor foretells that Hecuba will become a dog with fiery eyes and that her tomb will be a landmark for sailors, called the tomb of the wretched dog (Hecuba 1265–1273). Ovid says that when the Thracians pelted her with stones she chased the stones with her teeth and tried to speak but barked; the place keeps the name, and she howled for her old sorrows through the Thracian fields (Metamorphoses 13.565–571).

Hecuba Sources

Homer, Iliad 6.269–295, 16.718–719, 22.79–83, 22.430–436, 24.495–497, 24.748–750; Euripides, Hecuba 3, 25–28, 107–110, 218–221, 658ff., 1049–1053, 1265–1273, and Trojan Women 277, 719–725, 1133–1143; Apollodorus, Library 3.12.5 and Epitome 3.32, 5.23; Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.439–448, 13.556–571.

See Also: Priam, Hector, Paris, Cassandra, Trojan War, Achilles, Polyxena, Polydorus, Astyanax, Troilus