Polyxena

Polyxena was a princess of Troy in Greek mythology, a daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba. She is remembered above all for her death after the fall of Troy, when the Greeks sacrificed her at the tomb of Achilles. In Euripides’ tragedy Hecuba she goes to her death by choice, asking to die free rather than live as a slave.

Polyxena and Achilles

The earliest sources say little about Polyxena in the war itself. In the epic Cypria, as summarized in the Epic Cycle, Achilles kills Troilus, one of Priam’s sons. Apollodorus says that Achilles waylaid Troilus and killed him in the sanctuary of Thymbraean Apollo (Apollodorus, Epitome 3.32). These sources do not say that Polyxena was with Troilus at that time, or that she was taken prisoner by the Greeks before the fall of Troy.

Hyginus gives a story connecting Polyxena to the death of Achilles. In his account, Achilles was killed by Alexander (Paris) and Deiphobus when he came to a meeting because he sought Polyxena in marriage; this, he says, was why the Greeks later sacrificed her at his tomb (Hyginus, Fabulae 110). The usual account is that Achilles died by an arrow: Apollodorus says he was shot in the ankle by Alexander and Apollo at the Scaean gate (Apollodorus, Epitome 5.3), and Hyginus that Apollo, taking the form of Paris, shot him in the heel, the one mortal part of his body (Hyginus, Fabulae 107). None of these sources says that Polyxena told Achilles a secret about his body; the story that she betrayed the weakness of his heel is not found in them.

The Sacrifice of Polyxena

The Ghost of Achilles

After Troy fell, the Greek fleet was held back from sailing home. In Euripides, the ghost of Achilles appeared above his tomb, in golden armour, and stopped the whole Greek army as they were steering their ships toward home; he asked to receive Polyxena as a victim and a gift of honour at his tomb (Euripides, Hecuba 37–41, 107–115). The Greek army was divided. Agamemnon spoke against the sacrifice because of his love for Cassandra, but the sons of Theseus spoke in favour of it; Odysseus persuaded the army not to refuse the best of the Greeks for the sake of a slave girl (Hecuba 116–140). The summary of the Sack of Ilium in the Epic Cycle records that the Greeks, after burning the city, sacrificed Polyxena at the tomb of Achilles (Proclus, Chrestomathy, summary of the Sack of Ilium). Virgil has Andromache call her fortunate: the maiden of Priam who was ordered to die at an enemy tomb (Virgil, Aeneid 3.321–324).

Hecuba and Odysseus

Odysseus came to tell Hecuba that the Achaeans had decided to slaughter Polyxena at the mound of Achilles, and that Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, would be the priest in charge of the sacrifice (Euripides, Hecuba 218–224). Hecuba pleaded with him to spare her daughter. Polyxena herself said that she would follow him willingly, and that she would be ashamed to be thought a coward who clung to life; she asked to be killed free (Hecuba 342–378, 547–552).

The Death of Polyxena

The herald Talthybius reports the scene to Hecuba. The whole Achaean army stood before the tomb, and Neoptolemus took Polyxena by the hand and set her on top of the mound. She told the Argives that she died willingly, that no one should touch her, and that they should let her go free so that she might die free; Agamemnon told the young men to let her go (Hecuba 518–556). She tore her robe from the shoulder and bared her breast, and offered her throat or her chest to the sword. Neoptolemus, unwilling and yet willing in pity, cut her throat, and even as she died she took care to fall decently (Hecuba 557–570). Ovid tells the same event in the Metamorphoses: the ghost of Achilles rises from the earth on the Thracian shore and demands her, and Neoptolemus, weeping and unwilling, drives the sword into her breast (Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.439–480). Apollodorus also records that the Greeks slaughtered Polyxena on the grave of Achilles (Apollodorus, Epitome 5.23). Pausanias notes that poets sing of her death at the tomb of Achilles, and that he saw the story painted at Athens and at Pergamum (Pausanias 10.25.10).

Hecuba’s Revenge

In Euripides’ play, Hecuba then learns that her son Polydorus, whom Priam had sent for safety to the Thracian king Polymestor, has been murdered by him. She and the captive Trojan women blind Polymestor with their brooches and kill his sons (Euripides, Hecuba 1046–1049, 1167–1175). The sacrifice of Polyxena is the first of the two blows to Hecuba in the play.

Polyxena Sources

Euripides, Hecuba 37–41, 107–140, 218–224, 342–378, 518–570, 1046–1049, 1167–1175; Apollodorus, Epitome 3.32, 5.3, 5.23; Hyginus, Fabulae 107, 110; Virgil, Aeneid 3.321–324; Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.439–480; Pausanias 10.25.10; the Epic Cycle (Proclus’ summaries of the Cypria and the Sack of Ilium).

See Also: Priam, Hecuba, Trojan War, Iphigenia, Agamemnon, Troilus, Achilles, Paris, Neoptolemus, Odysseus