thumb|250px|[[Cassandra (center) drawing lots with her right hand predicts the downfall of Troy in front of Priam (seated, on the left), Paris (holding the apple of discord) and a warrior leaning on a spear, presumably Hector. Fresco in Pompeii, 20-30 AD]]
thumb|250px|Fresco of Cassandra's prophecy with the presence of presumably Hector, [[Pompeii]]
In Greek mythology, Hector (; , ) was a Trojan prince, a hero, and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. He is a major character in Homer's Iliad, where he leads the Trojans and their allies in the defense of Troy, killing countless Greek warriors. He is ultimately killed in single combat by the Greek hero Achilles, who proceeds to drag his dead body around the city of Troy behind his chariot.
thumb|250px|Coin from [[Troy, 177–192 AD; Obverse: Bust of Commodus; Reverse: Hector, brandishing shield and spear, on a two-horse chariot; () inscribed above, (, "Troy") in exergue]]
250px|thumb|The bronze coin struck in 350–300 BC in [[Ophryneion, which was considered to be the site of the Tomb of Hector. Obverse depicts bearded Hector wearing triple crested helmet and reverse depicts infant Dionysos.]]
Etymology
In Greek, is a derivative agent noun of the verb , archaic form * ('to have' or 'to hold'), from Proto-Indo-European ('to hold') ; , therefore, would seem to mean "holder" or "possessor" (perhaps emphasizing his princely status), or could be taken to mean 'holding fast' (perhaps emphasizing his conduct during the siege of Ilium by the Argives). , or as found in Aeolic poetry, is also an epithet of Zeus in his capacity as 'he who holds [everything together]'. The name was in use during Mycenaean times, as evidenced by a servant with the name referred to in a Linear B tablet. In the tablet, the name is spelled , .
Moses I. Finley proposed that the Homeric hero was partly based on an earlier Theban hero of the same name.
Description
Hector is described by the sixth-century Christian chronicler John Malalas in his account of the Chronography as "dark-skinned, tall, very stoutly built, strong, good nose, wooly-haired, good beard, squinting, speech defect, noble, fearsome warrior, deep-voiced". Meanwhile, in the account attributed to the legendary Trojan priest and author Dares Phrygius, he is described as "... [speaking] with a slight lisp. His complexion was fair, his hair curly. His eyes would blink attractively. His movements were swift. His face, with its beard, was noble. He was handsome, fierce, and high-spirited, merciful to the citizens, and deserving of love". Greek author and poet Homer portrayed Hector as "peace-loving, thoughtful, as well as bold, a good son, husband and father, and without darker motives." Homer described his hair as "κυάνεος" (kuaneos), which meant blue-black or dark.
Biography
Hector of Troy is a Trojan prince and warrior. He is the first-born son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, making him a prince of the royal house and heir to his father's throne. Hector weds Andromache, who bore him a son, Scamandrius, whom the people of Troy know as Astyanax. According to some accounts, he had other children including Oxynios and Laodamas.
Hector throughout the Trojan War brings glory to the Trojans as their best fighter. He is loved by all his people and known for never turning down a fight. He is gracious to all and thus thought of favorably by all but the Achaeans, who both hate and fear him as the Trojans' best warrior. He turns the tide of battle, breaking down their barriers and slaughtering their troops.
When Hector kills Patroclus, Achilles—who had refused to fight because of a slight by Agamemnon—reenters the war to avenge his friend, and the Trojans are beaten back again. Hector's parents plead for him to take shelter within the city walls. Hector refuses, wanting to talk with Achilles, in an attempt to resolve the altercation without bloodshed, though Achilles is not one to be placated after Hector has slain his close friend, Patroclus. Achilles chases Hector around the gates of Troy three times. Apollo gives Hector strength so he can always stay in the lead. But whenever he nears the entrance to the city, Achilles cuts him off. Finally Athena takes the guise of his favorite brother, Deiphobus, telling him that they can face Achilles together. Tricked into thinking he might have a chance at winning, Hector waits for Achilles. He then proposes that whoever wins, be it he or Achilles, will be respectful to the other's body and give it back so there can be a proper burial. Achilles refuses, saying that there is "...no love between us. No truce till the other falls and gluts with blood" (Book 22, 313–314). After a short fight, Achilles stabs Hector in the throat, which results in his fated death. Hector then foretells Achilles' own death, saying that he will be killed by Paris and Apollo.
After slaying him, Achilles strips him of his armor. The other Achaeans then gather to look upon and stab Hector's body. Achilles says a few words in victory and ties Hector's body by the heels to his chariot. He drags the body around the city of Troy, as the Trojans watch from the walls and lament, especially Andromache, Hector's wife. The desecration of Hector's body by Achilles is considered an affront to the gods and ultimately leads to Achilles' downfall.
During and after Patroclus' funeral, Achilles drags Hector's body around his pyre. However, the gods Aphrodite and Apollo protected his body from the dogs, disfigurement, and decomposition. Twelve days elapse before Priam goes to Achilles to ransom his son's body.
Mythology
Greatest warrior of Troy
thumb|250px|left|Hector Admonishes Paris for His Softness and Exhorts Him to Go to War by [[Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein|J. H. W. Tischbein (1751–1828)]]
According to the Iliad, Hector did not approve of war between the Greeks and the Trojans.
For ten years, the Achaeans besieged Troy and their allies in the east. Hector commanded the Trojan army, with a number of subordinates including Polydamas, and his brothers Deiphobus, Helenus and Paris. By all accounts, Hector was the best warrior the Trojans and their allies could field, and his fighting prowess was admired by Greeks and his own people alike.
Duel with Protesilaus
In the Iliad, Hector's exploits in the war prior to the events of the book are recapitulated. He had fought the Greek champion Protesilaus in single combat at the start of the war and killed him. A prophecy had stated that the first Greek to land on Trojan soil would die. Thus, Protesilaus, Ajax, and Odysseus would not land. Finally, Odysseus threw his shield out and landed on that instead of the ground, Protesilaus jumped next from his own ship onto the ground making him the first to touch the Trojan soil. In the ensuing fight, Hector killed him, fulfilling the prophecy.
250px|thumb|Ajax and Hector exchange gifts ([[woodcut in Andreas Alciatus, Emblematum libellus, 1591).]]
Duel with Ajax
As described by Homer in the Iliad at the advice of Hector's brother Helenus (who also is divinely inspired) and being told by him that he is not destined to die yet, Hector manages to get both armies seated and challenges any one of the Greek warriors to single combat. The Argives are initially reluctant to accept the challenge. However, after Nestor's chiding, nine Greek heroes step up to the challenge and draw by lot to see who is to face Hector. Ajax wins. Hector is unable to pierce Ajax's famous shield, but Ajax crushes Hector's shield with a rock and stabs through his armor with a spear, drawing blood, upon which the god Apollo intervenes, and the duel is ended, as the sun is setting. Hector gives Ajax his sword, which Ajax later uses to kill himself. Ajax gives Hector his girdle that Achilles later attaches to his chariot to drag Hector's corpse around the walls of Troy.
The Greeks and the Trojans make a truce to bury the dead. In the early dawn the next day, the Greeks take advantage of the truce to build a wall and ditch around the ships, while Zeus watches in the distance.
Duel with Achilles
Another mention of Hector's exploits in the early years of war is given in the Iliad in book IX. During the embassy to Achilles, Odysseus, Phoenix and Ajax all try to persuade Achilles to rejoin the fight. In his response, Achilles points out that while Hector is terrorizing the Greek forces now, and that while he himself had fought in their front lines, Hector had 'no wish' to take his force far beyond the walls and out from the Skaian Gate and nearby oak tree. He then claims, 'There he stood up to me alone one day, and he barely escaped my onslaught.'
Another duel takes place, although Hector receives help from Aeneas (his cousin) and Deiphobus, when Hector rushes to try to save his brother Troilus from Achilles. He comes too late; Troilus has already perished. All Hector can do is to take the body, while Achilles escapes after he fights his way through the Trojan reinforcements.
thumb|250px|Hector's last visit with his wife, [[Andromache, and infant son Astyanax, startled by his father's helmet (Apulian red-figure vase, 370–360 BC)]]
In the tenth year of the war, observing Paris avoiding combat with Menelaus, Hector scolds him with having brought trouble on his whole country and now refusing to fight. Paris therefore proposes single combat between himself and Menelaus, with Helen to go to the victor, ending the war. The duel, however, leads to inconclusive results due to intervention by Aphrodite, who leads Paris off the field. After Pandarus wounds Menelaus with an arrow, the fight begins again.
The Greeks attack and drive the Trojans back. Hector must now go out to lead a counter-attack. According to Homer, his wife Andromache, carrying in her arms her son Astyanax, intercepts Hector at the gate, pleading with him not to go out for her sake as well as his son's. Hector knows that Troy and the house of Priam are doomed to fall and that the gloomy fate of his wife and infant son will be to die or go into slavery in a foreign land. With understanding, compassion, and tenderness, he explains that he cannot personally refuse to fight, and comforts her with the idea that no one can take him until it is his time to go. The gleaming bronze helmet frightens Astyanax and makes him cry. Hector takes it off, embraces his wife and son, and for his sake prays aloud to Zeus that his son might be chief after him, become more glorious in battle than he, to bring home the blood of his enemies, and make his mother proud. Once he leaves for battle, those in the house begin to mourn, as they know he would not return. Hector and Paris pass through the gate and rally the Trojans, raising havoc among the Greeks.
Trojan counter-attack
Zeus weighs the fates of the two armies in the balance, and that of the Greeks sinks. The Trojans press the Greeks into their camp over the ditch and wall and would have laid hands on the ships, but Agamemnon personally rallies the Greeks. The Trojans are driven off, night falls, and Hector resolves to take the camp and burn the ships the next day. The Trojans bivouac in the field.
The next day Agamemnon rallies the Greeks and drives the Trojans
Hector refrains from battle until Agamemnon leaves the field, wounded in the arm by a spear. Then Hector rallies the Trojans:
Diomedes and Odysseus hinder Hector and win the Greeks some time to retreat, but the Trojans sweep down upon the wall and rain blows upon it. The Greeks in the camp contest the gates to secure entrance for their fleeing warriors. The Trojans try to pull down the ramparts while the Greeks rain arrows upon them. Hector smashes open a gate with a large stone, clears the gate, and calls on the Trojans to scale the wall, which they do, and
thumb|upright=1.5|Battle at the ships, on a [[Roman Empire|Roman-era sarcophagus, 225–250 AD]]
The battle rages inside the camp. Hector goes down, hit by a stone thrown by Ajax, but Apollo arrives from Olympus and infuses strength into "the shepherd of the people", who orders a chariot attack, with Apollo clearing the way. After much war across several books of the Iliad, Hector lays hold of Protesilaus' ship and calls for fire. The Trojans cannot bring it to him, as Ajax kills everyone who tries. Eventually, Hector breaks Ajax's spear with his sword, forcing him to give ground, and he sets the ship ablaze.
These events are all according to the will of the gods, who have decreed the fall of Troy, and therefore intend to tempt Achilles back into the war. Patroclus, Achilles' closest companion, disguised in Achilles' armor, enters the combat leading the Myrmidons and the rest of the Achaeans to force a Trojan withdrawal. After Patroclus has routed the Trojan army, Hector, with the aid of Apollo and Euphorbus, kills Patroclus, vaunting over him:
The dying Patroclus foretells Hector's death: