HECTOR

in Greek legend, the eldest son of the Trojan king Priam and his queen Hecuba. He was the husband of Andromache and the chief warrior of the Trojan army. In Homer's Iliad he is represented as an ideal warrior and the mainstay of Troy. His character is drawn in most favourable colours as a good son, a loving husband and father, and a trusty friend. His leave-taking of Andromache in the sixth book of the Iliad, and his departure to meet Achilles for the last time, are movingly described. He is an especial favourite of Apollo, and later poets even described him as son of that god. His chief exploits during the Trojan War were his defense of the wounded Sarpedon, his fight with Ajax, son of Telamon (his particular enemy), and the storming of the Greek ramparts. When Achilles, enraged with Agamemnon, deserted the Greeks, Hector drove them back to their ships, which he almost succeeded in burning. Patroclus, the friend of Achilles, who came to the help of the Greeks, was slain by Hector with the help of Apollo. Then Achilles, to revenge his friend's death, returned to the war, slew Hector, dragged his body behind his chariot to the camp, and afterward round the tomb of Patroclus. Aphrodite and Apollo preserved it from corruption and mutilation. Priam, guarded by Hermes, went to Achilles and prevailed on him to give back the body, which was buried with great honour. Hector was afterward worshipped in the Troad and also at Tanagra, east of Thebes. the eldest son of Priam in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida. Hector, the greatest of the Trojan warriors and the most noble character in the play, is the epitome of honour and duty, and yet he is ironically killed in a most un-honourable manner. The Elizabethan English believed that they were descendants of the Trojans and regarded Hector as the greatest hero of the Trojan War. Hector's sense of chivalry is so deep that he spares Achilles when he finds the Greek at rest, wearied from battle. Yet his belief in this code also clouds his better reasoning, as in his poor judgement of Achilles' nature and, most importantly, his quick abandoning of his rational argument to return Helen to the Greeks.