Hector
Hector ( ancient Greek Ἕκτωρ ) is a figure from Homer's famous epic Iliad , from which much of the information known today about Greek mythology comes. Before his younger brother Paris, he is the eldest son of the King of Troy, Priam , and of his wife Hecabe . He is the most important hero and general of Troy in the Ten Years ' Trojan War .
Homer describes the 51 days of action from the outbreak of the wrath of the Greek hero Achilles , the strongest fighter on the Achaean side, to Hector's fall and burial. Homer and Virgil in his Aeneid describe Hector as a noble hero. Many later idealized representations that see Hector as a symbol of chivalry are based on this. In the Middle Ages he was included in the ranks of the Neuf Preux , the nine bold knights, alongside Caesar and Alexander the Great . For the modern age see z. B. the Hector song by Friedrich Schiller .
The Hector of the Iliad is Apollo's protégé and is portrayed not only as a capable fighter, but also as a son, brother, loving husband and father. Large parts of his description are devoted to saying goodbye to his wife Andromache and their son Astyanax . Like the other heroes, he is portrayed as the favorite of various gods who have decided between victory and defeat, life and death, even before the actual deed is done.
In the course of the battles of the Iliad, the Trojans succeed in pushing the Achaeans back to their ships, which Hector and the other Trojan heroes cannot oppose as long as the angry Achilles refuses to take part in the battle. Hector himself smashed the gate to the fortifications with a single stone throw. In the threatening situation, Patroclus , Achilles' cousin , puts on Achilles' armor with his consent and leads the Myrmidons , Achilles' followers, into battle in his place . The Trojans manage to fight back. Patroclus himself is killed by Hector. Hector believed that he had killed Achilles. Achilles then intervenes again and drives the Trojans back into the city. Hector is the only one to stay outside the walls to face him. He is chased three times by Achilles around the walls of Troy until he confronts Athens by a ruse and is killed. Dying, Hector asks that his body be returned to the city, but Achilles pierces his heels and drags the body around his friend's grave for twelve days. To put an end to this, Zeus instructs Thetis , Achilles' mother, to bring her son to his senses. King Priam - who sneaks into the Greek camp as a supplicant at night - finally persuades him to pity him and leaves him with the corpse. The Iliad ends with an eleven day mourning for Hector by the Trojans.
literature
- Max Lehnerdt : Hector . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1,2, Leipzig 1890, Sp. 1910-1927 ( digitized version ).
- Robert Cramer: Hector. 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. 303-307.
