Andromache in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Andromache

34 passages from 4 ancient authors that tell of Andromache, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Andromache was the wife of Hector, prince of Troy, in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of Eetion who ruled over the city of Cilician Thebe. Hecto... For the story in one place, read our article on Andromache.

Homer (5)

Homer, Iliad 6.369–439Hector and Andromache: Andromache's pleaHector does not find Andromache at home and hurries to the wall, where she meets him with their small son in the nurse's arms. She begs him to stay within the walls, telling how Achilles killed her father and seven brothers and left her only Hector, and asks him to set his men by the fig-tree where the wall is weakest.
Homer, Iliad 6.440–529Hector and Andromache: Hector's answer and AstyanaxHector answers that shame forbids him to hold back, though he foresees the fall of Troy and prays that he may be dead before he hears Andromache's cries as she is led away as a slave. The child shrinks from his helmet's horsehair crest, Hector lays it down and prays that his son may be better than his father, and he then bids Andromache go home to her work. Paris overtakes him, and the two go out to the fighting.
Homer, Iliad 17.108–232Hector takes the armour of Achilles; Glaucus rebukes himMenelaus gives ground and Ajax comes up and covers the body of Patroclus with his shield, and Hector falls back, sending the armour of Patroclus to Troy. Glaucus reproaches him for leaving Sarpedon's body and not standing his ground, and Hector puts on the armour of Achilles. Zeus pities him, saying that though he wears the armour of the best of men he will never return from battle to Andromache, and Hector then calls on the Trojans and their allies to drag the body to Troy, promising half the spoil and half the glory to the man who does so.
Homer, Iliad 24.677–804Hermes wakes Priam; Hector's funeralIn the night Hermes wakes Priam and warns him to leave before the Achaeans find him, and guides the wagon back across the river. Cassandra, from the citadel, is first to see them and cries to the city to come out and see Hector. The body is laid on a bed in the hall and Andromache, Hecuba and Helen each take up the lament. After nine days of gathering wood Hector is burned, the bones are put in a golden chest and a mound is raised, and the poem ends with a feast in Priam's house.
Homer, Iliad 22.376–515Achilles drags Hector's body; the lament in TroyThe Achaeans gather round and wound the body, and Achilles pierces the tendons of the feet, threads thongs through them and ties the body to his chariot. He drives off, dragging Hector's head in the dust, while Priam and Hecuba cry out from the wall. Andromache, who has been weaving, hears the lament, runs to the wall and faints at the sight, and then mourns for Hector and for her fatherless son.

Euripides (24)

Euripides, Trojan Women 568–602bSecond episode: Andromache arrives with AstyanaxThe Chorus sees Andromache coming on a foreign chariot, with her child, Astyanax, Hector's son, at her breast, and the weapons of Troy piled beside her. Andromache says that her Achaean masters are leading her away, and tells Hecuba of the destruction of Troy and of the dead who lie by the shrine of Pallas for vultures to carry off.
Euripides, Andromache 232–273First episode: Hermione threatens Andromache at the altarThe Chorus asks Hermione to come to terms with Andromache, but Hermione answers that she must die. Andromache says that she will leave the shrine only if she will not be killed, and Hermione threatens to drive her out with fire and wounds. She says that she has a plan to make Andromache rise before Neoptolemus returns, and Andromache says that no one has found a cure for a woman's venom.
Euripides, Andromache 56–90Prologue: the Maid warns Andromache of Menelaus' plotA Maid of Andromache comes to the shrine and tells her that Menelaus and his daughter are plotting to kill her and her son, whom she has secretly sent away to a neighbour's house. Andromache asks her to go in secret to Peleus, the old king, and ask him to come to their rescue, and the Maid goes.
Euripides, Trojan Women 686–739Second episode: Talthybius announces the death sentence on AstyanaxHecuba says that she has never set foot on a ship, and sees a Greek herald coming again. Talthybius, who says that he is unwilling, tells Andromache that the Greeks have decided that her son must die. He says that it has been decided that the boy is to be thrown from the battlements of Troy, and tells her to bear it bravely and not to curse the Greeks, or his body will be left unburied.
Euripides, Andromache 421–463Second episode: Menelaus' trick; Andromache curses the SpartansThe Chorus urges Menelaus to be merciful, but Menelaus has her seized, telling her that he held her son's death before her eyes only to make her leave the altar, and that Hermione will decide whether the boy lives. Andromache cries that she was deceived, and curses the Spartans as schemers of guile and masters of lying, and says that they will be punished.
Euripides, Andromache 464–544Second choral song; Andromache and her son are led to deathThe Chorus says that it dislikes rival wives and sons of different mothers, who bring strife into every house, and warns Hermione that she will pay for her crime. Andromache, with her hands bound, is led out with her son, and the child prays to Menelaus to spare him. Menelaus answers that he will not be moved, and that they are to die.
Euripides, Trojan Women 603–633Second episode: Hecuba and Andromache on death and hopeHecuba cries out for her children and her city, saying that the dead alone forget their griefs, and the Chorus says that to sufferers it is a sweet relief to weep. Andromache says that Polyxena is happier than the living, since she is spared the knowledge of her woes, and Hecuba answers that death and life are not the same, since the one is annihilation and the other has hope.
Euripides, Andromache 747–801Third episode: Peleus rescues Andromache; choral song on noble birthPeleus tells Andromache and her son to follow him, and says that no one will dare to touch them. Andromache blesses the old man for saving her and her child, and fears that the Spartans may attack them again on the road, but Peleus tells her not to be afraid. The Chorus, left alone, sings of the evils of a quarrel and of noble descent.
Euripides, Trojan Women 1118–1155Fourth episode: the body of Astyanax is brought on Hector's shieldThe Chorus sees the corpse of Astyanax, whom the Danaids have cruelly thrown from the battlements. Talthybius tells Hecuba that Neoptolemus, who sails for Phthia, has left Hector's shield to be used as a bier, that Andromache has been taken to the ships begging that her son might be buried, and he bids Hecuba bury him as best she can.
Euripides, Andromache 1–55Prologue: Andromache tells of her slavery at the shrine of ThetisAndromache, who has come from Thebes as the wife of Hector, recalls the fall of Troy and the death of her husband and tells how she became the slave of Neoptolemus and bore him a son. She says that his wife Hermione, who is childless, accuses her of using drugs and charms to make her barren, and that she has taken refuge at the shrine of Thetis while Neoptolemus is away at Delphi.
Euripides, Andromache 147–182First episode: Hermione accuses AndromacheHermione appears in gold and rich robes, boasts of the dowry her father Menelaus gave her, and accuses Andromache of wishing to oust her from the palace, of having bewitched her husband, and of making her barren. She says that Andromache shall die, and that even the shrine will not protect her, and she scorns the habits of barbarians. The Chorus remarks that women are jealous of rivals in love.
Euripides, Andromache 319–365Second episode: Andromache answers MenelausAndromache tells Menelaus that fame has raised many men of no account, and accuses him of the sack of Troy for the sake of a bad wife, and of being a mere pretender. She says that she has never harmed Hermione, and that she is not the cause of her barrenness, and the Chorus tells her that she has spoken too freely for a woman speaking to men.

12 more passages of Euripides that name Andromache

Pausanias (2)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.11.1–7Pyrrhus of Epirus: ancestry and rise to the throneAthens has a statue of Pyrrhus. Pausanias traces the Epirote royal house from Pyrrhus son of Achilles, Andromache and Helenus, and tells how Aeacides, Alcetas and finally Pyrrhus came to the throne after the fall of Olympias, Pyrrhus being restored with Ptolemy’s help. As king he first attacks Corcyra; Pausanias notes that no Greek before Pyrrhus fought the Romans, since Alexander of Epirus fell in Lucania first.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.25.1–11Delphi: the Cnidian Lesche and Polygnotus' painting of Troy after its capture (1)Pausanias describes the building dedicated by the Cnidians at Delphi, called the Lesche or Club-room, with its paintings by Polygnotus. On the right wall the painting shows Troy after its capture and the Greeks setting sail, with Menelaus' crew and the pilot Phrontis, then Helen and her handmaids, Helenus, the wounded Meges and Lycomedes, Aethra and Demophon, and the captive Trojan women, Andromache, Medisicaste and Polyxena, with Nestor.

Quintus Smyrnaeus (3)

Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 1.1–133Penthesileia comes to TroyAfter Hector's funeral the Trojans cower in Priam's city, afraid of Achilles. Penthesileia arrives from the Thermodon, longing for battle and fleeing the reproach of her own people, and the Trojans take heart. Andromache, hearing the queen's boasts, murmurs that she is no match for Achilles. At night Athena sends Penthesileia a deceitful dream.
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 14.1–120The spoil of TroyThe Argives plunder Troy. Menelaus leads Helen from the burning city, and Cassandra falls to Agamemnon, Andromache to Neoptolemus and Hecuba to Odysseus. Xanthus mourns with his Nymphs, and the Argives sacrifice and feast at the ships.
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 13.168–296The deaths of Priam and AstyanaxDiomedes kills Coroebus, who had hoped to marry Cassandra, and the aged Ilioneus, who begs for mercy in vain. Neoptolemus kills Pammon, Polites, Antiphonus and Agenor, and then beheads Priam at the altar of Zeus after Priam asks to die. The Argives throw Astyanax from a tower and drag Andromache into slavery, and only the house of Antenor is spared.