Hector

=I. Who is Hector? = Prince Hector, or otherwise known as the "tamer of horses," "shepherd of people," and "Priam's son of the glinting helmet," was the eldest son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, sibling of Paris, Helenus, and Cassandra, and was a descendant of Tros, the founder of Troy. Husband to Andromache, he was the father of Astyanax.

Since having fought many battles, Hector was the greatest warrior of Troy during the Trojan War. Because of this, normal attributes of a warrior such as being brave, responsible, strong, resilient, and others were all part of his personality. However, he was also quite rash and over-confident, causing him to lose his way and make unwise decisions. One example of these traits of his was when he felt so inspired by the gods that he challenged the Greeks to a one-on-one battle, but only fought to a draw.

As implied by the sentence above, Hector was also revered and well-liked by the gods, and at the same time respected and admired the gods too. This was shown in several instances of his life like when he fought Achilles, the hero of the Trojan War.

Hector was also a family man, and he loved his wife and son dearly. This was shown in the Trojan War when he chose to bid farewell to his wife and son before leaving for war.

Basically, the Iliad is an epic poem attributed to Homer, which is about the last year of the siege of Troy during the Trojan War. It starts off with a quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles, which later leads to the battle between the Achaeans (Greeks) and the Trojans.
 *  II. The Iliad

In terms of the war, Hector contributed a lot to his fellow Trojans since he was the commander-in-chief after all. He was mentioned during the Trojan War when the Trojans were losing badly in which he had to help lead them back to victory. It was decided that since the fighting had gone on for quite a while, Hector should challenge someone from the Achaeans in a one-on-one fight. Sooner or later, a Greek named Ajax was chosen. The fight lasted for about a day, but ended with a draw, causing both combatants to exchange gifts.

The fighting, however, went on and at one point, Hector and the Trojans attacked the Achaeans and their ships, which then led to the retreat of the Achaeans. Climbing aboard their ships, the Achaeans knew it was a good thing they had a defensive gate to keep out the Trojans. Hector, however, did not give up and proposed to drive their chariots headfirst towards the gate. Polydamas, Hector's lieutenant and friend, however, did not agree and proposed to leave the chariots near a ditch. Asius, a Trojan soldier, drove his chariot towards the gate single-handedly, but died afterwards, showing everyone that Hector's proposal was not a good one. Even so, Hector was still able to shatter the gate with a big rock after receiving help.

As the war went on, the Trojans suffered several setbacks. Polydamas warns Hector that Achilles might be a threat, but he disregards this due to his success. The Trojans continue to be driven back by the enemy, but Hector, strengthened by Apollo, uses his renewed strength to drive the enemy back to their camp, and becomes one step closer to the enemies' ships.

Because of the rising strength of the Trojans, Achilles of the Achaeans sends out Patroclus, his friend, to deal with Hector. Patroclus manages to drive the Trojans away from the ships. They fight a great battle, but with help from Apollo, Hector kills Patroclus.

Angered by his friend's death at the hand of a Trojan, Achilles storms through the enemy defenses and reaches Hector. Despite the warnings of Polydamas about Achilles and the prayers of his parents to withdraw to the city, Hector stayed in the battlefield, but was too afraid to fight, causing him to flee from Achilles three times round the walls of the city. Hector eventually dies at the hand of Achilles.

Still angered by his friend's death, Achilles drags Hector's body three times round Patroclus' grave. Only when King Priam requested for his son's body did Achilles stop and give the body up.

The Iliad ends with the funeral of Hector.

****III. Trivia **    **
 * In Dante's Inferno, Hector and his family are placed in Limbo, the outer circle wherein the virtuous non-Christians dwell.
 * Hector is commemorated as the face of the Jack of diamonds in French playing cards.

IV. Sources http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector http://www.timelessmyths.com/classical/heroes2.html#Hector http://www.angelfire.com/art/archictecture/articles/008.htm http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/hector.html http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/135574/differences_between_achilles_odysseus.html?cat=38 http://users.ox.ac.uk/~ball2738/summary.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_War **

