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Hecuba

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This article is about the mythological figure. For other uses, seeHecuba (disambiguation).
Hecuba
Queen ofTroy
Member of the Trojan Royal Family
Hecuba depicted on a vase of the 6th century BC
Other namesHecabe, Dymantis
AbodePhrygiaorThrace,later Troy
Genealogy
Parents(1)DymasandEuagoraorGlaucippeorEunoë
(2)CisseusandTelecleia
(3)SangariusandMetopeor Euagora or Glaucippe
Siblings(2)Theano
Consort(i)Apollo
(ii)Priam
Offspring(i) & (ii)TroilusandHector
(ii)Paris,Cassandra,Helenus,Deiphobus,Laodice,Polyxena,Creusa,Polydorus,Polites,Antiphus,Pammon,HipponousandIliona

Hecuba(/ˈhɛkjʊbə/;alsoHecabe;Ancient Greek:Ἑκάβη,romanized:Hekábē,pronounced[hekábɛ:]) was a queen inGreek mythology,the wife of KingPriamofTroyduring theTrojan War.[1]

Description[edit]

Hecuba was described by the chroniclerMalalasin his account of theChronographyas "dark, good eyes, full grown, long nose, beautiful, generous, talkative, calm".[2]Meanwhile, in the account ofDares the Phrygian,she was illustrated as "... beautiful, her figure large, her complexion dark. She thought like a man and was pious and just."[3]

Family[edit]

Parentage[edit]

Ancient sources vary as to the parentage of Hecuba.[4]According to Homer, Hecuba was the daughter of KingDymasofPhrygia,[5]butEuripides[6]andVirgil[7]write of her as the daughter of theThraciankingCisseus.The mythographersPseudo-ApollodorusandHyginusleave open the question which of the two was her father, with Pseudo-Apollodorus adding a third alternative option: Hecuba's parents could as well be the river godSangariusandMetope.[8][9]

Some versions from non-extant works are summarized by ascholiaston Euripides'Hecuba:[10]according to those, she was a daughter of Dymas or Sangarius by theNaiadEuagora,or byGlaucippethe daughter of Xanthus (Scamander?); the possibility of her being a daughter of Cisseus is also discussed. A scholiast on Homer relates that Hecuba's parents were either Dymas and thenymphEunoe or Cisseus andTelecleia;[11]the latter option would make her a full sister ofTheano,which is also noted by the scholiast on Euripides cited above.

According toSuetoniusinThe Twelve Caesars,the emperorTiberiuspestered scholars with obscure questions about ancient mythology, with one of his favorites being "Who was Hecuba's mother?"[12]

Offspring[edit]

Main article:List of children of Priam

Hecuba had 19 children, some of which included major characters ofHomer'sIliadsuch as the warriorsHectorandParis,as well as the prophetessCassandra.Two of them, Hector[13]andTroilus,[14]are said to have been born as a result of Hecuba's relationship with the godApollo.Other named children of Hecuba by Priam areHelenus,Deiphobus,Laodice,Polyxena,Creusa,Polydorus,Polites,Antiphus,Pammon,HipponousandIliona.

Comparative table of Hecuba's family
Relation Names Sources
Hom. Euripides Diod. Virgil Ovid Apollod. Dictys
Iliad TW Hec. Aen. Met.
Parents Dymas ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Cisseus ✓ ✓ ✓
Sangarius and Metope ✓
Consort Priam ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Apollo ✓
Siblings Asius ✓ ✓
Children Hector ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Deiphobus ✓ ✓
Polyxena ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Cassandra ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Polydorus ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Paris ✓ ✓ ✓
Creusa ✓
Laodice ✓
Helenus ✓
Pammon ✓
Polites ✓
Antiphus ✓
Troilus ✓ ✓

Myths[edit]

Hecuba in theIliad[edit]

The death of Hector on a Roman sarcophagus, c. 200 AD

Hecuba appears six times in theIliad.In Book 6.326–96, she meets Hector upon his return to the city and offers him the libation cup, instructing him to offer it to Zeus and to drink from it himself. Taking Hector's advice, she chooses a gown taken from Alexander's treasure to give as an offering to the goddess and leads the Trojan women to the temple ofAthenato pray for help. In Book 22, she pleads with Hector not to fightAchilles,expressing her premonition of "never get[ting] to mourn you laid out on a bier."[15]In Book 24.201–16, she is stricken with anxiety upon hearing of Priam's plan to retrieve Hector's body from Achilles' hut. Further along in the same episode, at 24.287–98, she offers Priam the libation cup and instructs him to pray to Zeus so that he may receive a favourable omen upon setting out towards the Achaean camp. Unlike in the first episode in which Hector refuses her offer of the cup, Priam accepts and is rewarded with the requested omen. Finally, she laments Hector's death in a well-known speech at 24.748–59.

Hecuba and Polyxenaby Merry-Joseph Blondel

Hecuba in other classical works[edit]

Stesichorusstates that after the sack of Troy, Apollo, Hecuba's former lover, took her to safety and placed her in Lycia.[16][17]

TheBibliotheca(Library) of Pseudo-Apollodorus states that Hecuba had a son namedTroiluswith the godApollo.Anoracleprophesied that Troy would not be defeated if Troilus reached the age of 20 alive. Troilus is killed by Achilles.

Hecuba is a main character in two plays byEuripides:The Trojan WomenandHecuba.The Trojan Womendescribes the aftermath of the fall of Troy, including Hecuba's enslavement byOdysseus.Hecubaalso takes place just after the fall of Troy.Polydorus,the youngest son of Priam and Hecuba, is sent to KingPolymestorfor safekeeping, but when Troy falls, Polymestor murders Polydorus. Hecuba learns of this, and when Polymestor comes to the fallen city, Hecuba, by trickery, blinds him and kills his two sons.[18]

Another story says that when she was given toOdysseusas a slave, she snarled and cursed at him, so the gods turned her into a dog, allowing her to escape.

In another tradition, Hecuba went mad upon seeing the corpses of her children Polydorus andPolyxena.Dantedescribed this episode, which he derived fromItaliansources:

—InfernoXXX: 13–20

Another legend has it that Hecuba threw herself into the sea[19]and was transformed into "a she-dog with fiery eyes" and that she was buried in a "wretched" place calledKynosema('dog's grave'), a "landmark for sailors".[20][21]The Kynosema is said to be a promontory located in modern dayKilidülbahir.[22]

Gallery[edit]

In popular culture[edit]

Hecuba is frequently referenced in classical literature, and in many medieval, Renaissance, and modern works. Among the works which are about Hecuba are:

Hecuba is also referenced in other works:

  • InHamlet,a play by WilliamShakespeare.In Act 2, scene 2, the character Hamlet marvels at the skill of an actor he has just watched perform a monologue about Hecuba witnessing Priam's death with convincing grief: "What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, / That he should weep for her?" Hamlet criticizes himself for grieving his father less authentically than the actor does on behalf of the imaginary Hecuba and Priam.[23]
  • In Fortune Plango Vulnera (I Bemoan The Wounds Of Fortune), from the 13th C Latin and Goliardic poetry collectionCarmina Burana,which was set to music in the movement Fate Imperatrix Mundi ofCarmina Burana: Cantiones profanae cantoribus et choris cantandae comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicisbyCarl Orff,Hecuba is mentioned as an exemplar of those thrown down by fate and a warning: "Nam sub axe legimus, Hecubam reginam." (For beneath the axle is written, queen Hecuba)

• In Edith Wharton’s The Custom of the Country, she describes Mrs. Spragg as “gaz[ing]after [Undine and Mr. Spragg] with the pale stare of Hecuba.”

Notes[edit]

  1. ^The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language,Fourth Edition:"Hecuba"Archived2012-03-23 at theWayback Machine
  2. ^Malalas,Chronography5.106
  3. ^Dares Phrygius,History of the Fall of Troy12
  4. ^Frazer's note 21 onPseudo-Apollodorus,Bibliotheca,3. 12. 5. In: Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.
  5. ^Iliad,16. 715
  6. ^Euripides,Hecuba,3
  7. ^Virgil,Aeneid7. 320; 10. 705,
  8. ^Apollodorus,3.12.5
  9. ^Hyginus,Fabulae,91, 111, 249
  10. ^Scholia on Euripides,Hecuba3
  11. ^Scholia onIliad,16. 718, referring toPherecydesandAthenionfor the two versions respectively
  12. ^Suetonius,The Twelve Caesars,Chapter 2 (Tiberius), paragraph 72
  13. ^Stesichorus,Fr. 108;Tzetzes,On Lycophron;Porphyry in hisOmissionsstates thatIbycus,Alexander,EuphorionandLycophronall made Hector the son of Apollo
  14. ^Pseudo-Apollodorus,Bibliotheca3. 12. 5 & E3. 32
  15. ^Homer,The Iliad.Book 22, line 86
  16. ^Stesichorus, Fr.109
  17. ^Cecil Maurice Bowra,Greek Lyric Poetry from Alcman to Simonides, Volume 1
  18. ^"Hecuba", Washington State University
  19. ^Hyginus,Fabulae243
  20. ^Trojan Women: Euripides.Greek Tragedy in New Translations. Translated by Alan Shapiro with Introduction and Noted by Alan Burian. Oxford University Press. 2009. p. 87.ISBN978-0-19-537493-3
  21. ^Koniaris, George Leonidas. "Alexander, Palamedes, Troades, Sisyphus - A Connected Tetralogy? A Connected Trilogy?". In:Harvard Studies in Classical Philology.Volume 78. Harvard University Press. 1973. pp. 120-121.
  22. ^MacKie, C.J.; Atabay, Mithat; Körpe, Reyhan; Sagona, Antonio (2016-01-05), Sagona, Antonio; Atabay, Mithat; Mackie, Christopher; McGibbon, Ian (eds.),"Boundary and divide: The antiquity of the Dardanelles",Anzac Battlefield(1 ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 4–23,doi:10.1017/cbo9781316278291.004,ISBN978-1-316-27829-1,retrieved2022-10-17
  23. ^"Hamlet: the play within the play".The British Library.Retrieved2019-11-22.

References[edit]

Primary sources[edit]

Secondary sources[edit]

  • Tsotakou-Karveli.Lexicon of Greek Mythology.Athens: Sokoli, 1990.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toHecuba.
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