Andromache
Andromache ( ancient Greek Ἀνδρομάχη Andromache , "like a man fighting") is in the Greek mythology, the wife of the Trojan hero Hector and in the Iliad of Homer , the mother of Astyanax . In literary terms, Andromache symbolizes a woman who has been severely tested by fate.
origin
She is the daughter of the King of Asia Minor Eetion of Thebes in Cilicia .
Life in Troy
Her father and her seven brothers are killed by Achilles during the nine-year siege of Troy while sacking Thebes, her husband Hector falls in a duel with Achilles that was decisive for the Trojan defeat, her son is overthrown from the city wall after the fall of Troy , she herself is enslaved and has to follow Achilles son Neoptolemus as a concubine in a foreign country.
Depiction in the Iliad
In Homer's Iliad, Andromache's relationship with Hector is particularly described. The two are united by a deep love, which in Greek is called αγαπή (unconditional love). Andromache is described as richly gifted, which suggests a large dowry.
Homily
The homily , if the term is related to the Iliad, denotes the last meeting of Andromache and Hector , which is presented in the 6th book . Andromache begs her husband not to go into battle as a champion, but to devote himself to the command of the soldiers in a more protected place. However, Hector refuses and explains that he could not do this in view of his position as the king's son and because of his sense of honor. Andromache says that she would no longer want to live herself, should Hector die, and also fears for her son Skamandrios, called Astyanax (Αστύαναξ - the ruler of the city) by the Trojans , who should not grow up fatherless. Hector nevertheless resists his wife's pleas and says goodbye to her and his son.
Hector's death
Andromache prepares a bath for him and lays out purple towels, expecting her husband to be home from the battle soon. When she notices the screaming on the walls, she runs out and sees her dead husband from the wall, who is being dragged around the Ilios by Achilles hanging on his chariot. Andromache faints from shock and dismay. When she came to, she wailed, surrounded by the Trojans, about the fate of her son, who was now fatherless.
The capture of Troy
When the Ilios is finally taken by the Achaeans , Andromache is enslaved. Her son Skamandrios is also to be taken along for the time being. But Odysseus gives the order to throw the baby from the walls of Troy, which is carried out by the Achaeans in the presence of Andromache.
Life in exile
With Andromache , Neoptolemus fathered the sons of Molossus , Pielos and Pergamos , the later founder of Pergamons . Since the marriage between Neoptolemus and his legitimate Greek wife Hermione , who is a daughter of Helena , remains childless, Andromache is accused of making Hermione sterile and almost falls victim to a murder plot led by Hermione and her father Menelaus .
In Virgil's Aeneid , Andromache is married to the also kidnapped Trojan seer Helenus at the marriage of Neoptolemus and Hermione , who like Hector is a son of Priam and Hecabe . Pausanias, on the other hand, concludes from the sources that Andromache did not marry Helenus until after the death of Neoptolemus and then became queen of Epirus ; but possibly she also spent her old age with one of her sons in the newly founded Pergamon, where a heroon was built for her after her death .
Artistic arrangements
Antiquity
- Euripides : Andromache , tragedy approx. 425 BC Chr.
- Euripides : The Trojans , tragedy approx. 415 BC Chr.
- Virgil : Aeneid , epic hero, approx. 25 BC Chr.
Modern times
In his tragedy Andromache , Jean Racine changed her fate for his purposes. According to this version, she was able to save her son Astyanax by a ruse. Neoptolemus - who in Racine Pausanias 1,11,1-2 leads the second name of Neoptolemus, Pyrrhus - threatens to hand over Astyanax to the Greeks in order to force Andromache to become his wife. Racine thought this change in myth was necessary because Andromache was now seen as a model for conjugal love and loyalty beyond death. As a dramatic heroine, she could not be the wife of any man other than Hector. Racine's work subsequently served as a template for the opera of the same name by André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry .
See also
literature
- William Allen: The Andromache and Euripidean Tragedy. Oxford 2000.
- Regine Brümmer: The dramaturgical and characterological design of the Andromache material in Racine and Euripides. Dissertation, University of Münster 1971.
- Heinrich Kuch : Captivity and slavery with Euripides. Investigations on the "Andromache", the "Hecabe" and the "Troerinnen". Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1974.
- Dieter Lohmann : The Andromache scenes of the Iliad. Approaches and methods of the Homer interpretation. Olms, Hildesheim 1988.
- Christine Tauber: Andromache. In: Maria Moog-Grünewald (Ed.): Mythenrezeption. The ancient mythology in literature, music and art from the beginnings to the present (= Der Neue Pauly . Supplements. Volume 5). Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2008, ISBN 978-3-476-02032-1 , pp. 77-80.
- Richard Wagner : Andromache 1 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 2, Stuttgart 1894, Col. 2151 f.
- Grace S. West: Andromache and Dido. In: American Journal of Philology . Vol. 104, 1983, pp. 257-267.
