Hector Comforts His Child Before Battle
Astyanax
In Book 6 of Homer's Iliad, amidst the brutal and relentless fighting of the Trojan War, the narrative pauses for one of the most tender and tragic moments in classical literature. Hector, the great champion of Troy, returns from the battlefield to the city to urge the Trojan women to make offerings to Athena. Before heading back to the front lines, he stops at the Scaean Gates to speak with his beloved wife, Andromache, and their infant son, Astyanax (also known by his birth name, Scamandrius).
When Hector reaches out to embrace his child, the baby bursts into tears and shrinks back into his mother's arms. The infant is terrified by the sight of his father's gleaming bronze armor, the ox-hide helmet, and the fearsome horsehair plume nodding at its crest. Seeing their child's innocent fear, Hector and Andromache laugh. To comfort his son, Hector removes his helmet, sets it shining on the ground, and takes Astyanax into his arms. He kisses the boy and offers a poignant prayer to Zeus and the other gods. He asks that Astyanax grow up to be a mighty warrior, even greater than himself, and that one day, as the boy returns from battle laden with the spoils of a slain enemy, the people of Troy will say he has far surpassed his father.
This scene is heavily layered with dramatic irony and sorrow. While Hector prays for his son's glorious future, the audience knows that Troy is doomed to fall. Astyanax will not grow up to rule Ilion; instead, he will be killed when the city is sacked, making Hector's loving prayer one of the most heartbreaking moments in the epic.
Homer, Iliad 6.466–481
Ὣς φάτο, καὶ παιδὶ τανύετο χεῖρας ἄναξ Ἕκτωρ; ἄψ δὲ πατὴρ φίλος πρὸς ἐΰζωνον κόλπον ἔκλινεν ἰάχοντα, ἰδὼν ἐνὶ πατρ φίλῳσι χαλκόν τε ῥῖνόν τε καὶ ππείην λόφον αὐτῶν δεινὸν ἀπ᾽ ἀκροτάτης κόρυος νεύοντα νοῆσαι.
English Translation
So he spoke, and glorious Hector stretched out his hands to his child; but the dear child shrank back to the bosom of his fair-girdled mother, crying, terrified at the sight of his dear father, when he saw the bronze and the ox-hide, and the horsehair plume nodding dreadfully from the top of the helmet.
ἐκ δ᾽ ἐγέλασσε πατήρ τε φίλος καὶ πότνια μήτηρ· αὐτίκα δ᾽ ἐκ κεφαλῆς κόρυθ᾽ εἵλετο φαίδιμος Ἕκτωρ, καὶ τὴν μὲν κατέθηκεν ἐπὶ χθονὶ παμφανόωσαν· αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ δὴ παῖδα φίλον κύσεν ἠδ᾽ ἐνὶ χερσὶν λισσόμενος Διὶ τ ἄλλοισιν τ᾽ ἀθανάτοισιν εὔχετ᾽ ἐπευχόμενος·
English Translation
Then his dear father and his queenly mother laughed; and immediately glorious Hector took the helmet from his head and set it shining on the ground; then he kissed his dear son and held him in his arms, and prayed to Zeus and the other immortals:
"Ζεῦ πάτερ ἠδ᾽ ἄλλοι μάκαρες θεοί, αἴθε καὶ οὗτος παῖς ἐμὸς ὡς ἐμοὶ γέγ᾽ ἀριπρεπὴς Τρώεσσιν ἶσος ἐμῇ ἀρετῇ, καὶ ἄναξ ἔχοι Ἴλιον ἱρήν· καί ποτέ τις εἴποισι, πατρός γ᾽ ὅδε πολλὸν ἀμείνων ἐκ πολέμου ἀνιόντι· φέροι δ᾽ ἔναρα βροτόεντα κτείνας δήϊον ἄνδρα· χαρῇ δέ οἱ ἥτορ ἐνίφρην,"
English Translation
"Father Zeus, and you other blessed gods, grant that this my son may be as I am, preeminent among the Trojans, equal to me in strength, and rule strongly over Ilion. And may someone someday say, 'He is far better than his father,' as he returns from battle; may he bring home bloody spoils, having killed an enemy, and may his mother's heart rejoice within her."
— Homer, Iliad 6.466–481