ὣς ἔφατο κλαίουσ᾽, ἄλοχος δ᾽ οὔ πώ τι πέπυστο

Ἕκτορος: οὐ γάρ οἵ τις ἐτήτυμος ἄγγελος ἐλθὼν

ἤγγειλ᾽ ὅττί ῥά οἱ πόσις ἔκτοθι μίμνε πυλάων,

ἀλλ᾽ ἥ γ᾽ ἱστὸν ὕφαινε μυχῷ δόμου ὑψηλοῖο440

δίπλακα πορφυρέην, ἐν δὲ θρόνα ποικίλ᾽ ἔπασσε.

κέκλετο δ᾽ ἀμφιπόλοισιν ἐϋπλοκάμοις κατὰ δῶμα

ἀμφὶ πυρὶ στῆσαι τρίποδα μέγαν, ὄφρα πέλοιτο

Ἕκτορι θερμὰ λοετρὰ μάχης ἐκ νοστήσαντι

νηπίη, οὐδ᾽ ἐνόησεν ὅ μιν μάλα τῆλε λοετρῶν445

χερσὶν Ἀχιλλῆος δάμασε γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη.

κωκυτοῦ δ᾽ ἤκουσε καὶ οἰμωγῆς ἀπὸ πύργου:

τῆς δ᾽ ἐλελίχθη γυῖα, χαμαὶ δέ οἱ ἔκπεσε κερκίς:

ἣ δ᾽ αὖτις δμῳῇσιν ἐϋπλοκάμοισι μετηύδα:

δεῦτε δύω μοι ἕπεσθον, ἴδωμ᾽ ὅτιν᾽ ἔργα τέτυκται.450

αἰδοίης ἑκυρῆς ὀπὸς ἔκλυον, ἐν δ᾽ ἐμοὶ αὐτῇ

στήθεσι πάλλεται ἦτορ ἀνὰ στόμα, νέρθε δὲ γοῦνα

πήγνυται: ἐγγὺς δή τι κακὸν Πριάμοιο τέκεσσιν.

αἲ γὰρ ἀπ᾽ οὔατος εἴη ἐμεῦ ἔπος: ἀλλὰ μάλ᾽ αἰνῶς

δείδω μὴ δή μοι θρασὺν Ἕκτορα δῖος Ἀχιλλεὺς455

μοῦνον ἀποτμήξας πόλιος πεδίον δὲ δίηται,

καὶ δή μιν καταπαύσῃ ἀγηνορίης ἀλεγεινῆς

ἥ μιν ἔχεσκ᾽, ἐπεὶ οὔ ποτ᾽ ἐνὶ πληθυῖ μένεν ἀνδρῶν,

ἀλλὰ πολὺ προθέεσκε, τὸ ὃν μένος οὐδενὶ εἴκων.

460

ὣς φαμένη μεγάροιο διέσσυτο μαινάδι ἴση

παλλομένη κραδίην: ἅμα δ᾽ ἀμφίπολοι κίον αὐτῇ

αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ πύργόν τε καὶ ἀνδρῶν ἷξεν ὅμιλον

ἔστη παπτήνασ᾽ ἐπὶ τείχεϊ, τὸν δὲ νόησεν

ἑλκόμενον πρόσθεν πόλιος: ταχέες δέ μιν ἵπποι

ἕλκον ἀκηδέστως κοίλας ἐπὶ νῆας Ἀχαιῶν.465

τὴν δὲ κατ᾽ ὀφθαλμῶν ἐρεβεννὴ νὺξ ἐκάλυψεν,

ἤριπε δ᾽ ἐξοπίσω, ἀπὸ δὲ ψυχὴν ἐκάπυσσε.

τῆλε δ᾽ ἀπὸ κρατὸς βάλε δέσματα σιγαλόεντα,

ἄμπυκα κεκρύφαλόν τε ἰδὲ πλεκτὴν ἀναδέσμην

κρήδεμνόν θ᾽, ὅ ῥά οἱ δῶκε χρυσῆ Ἀφροδίτη470

ἤματι τῷ ὅτε μιν κορυθαίολος ἠγάγεθ᾽ Ἕκτωρ

ἐκ δόμου Ἠετίωνος, ἐπεὶ πόρε μυρία ἕδνα.

Andromache hears the wailing from the city walls while at home weaving and preparing a bath for Hector. Greatly disturbed, she asks two servants to investigate the cause. In a state of frenzy she rushes out to the tower with them and sees Hector's lifeless body being dragged behind Achilles' chariot. As she collapses she throws off her elaborate headdress.

The sound of wailing from the city walls reaches Andromache in her bedroom, as she prepares for Hector’s return from battle:

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She called to her well-coifed maids in the house
to set up a tripod over the fire, so there would be
a warm bath for Hector, when he returned from battle.

Iliad 22.442–44

The poignant double meaning of Andromache’s preparations, which could describe preparations for the washing of a corpse, is one of many in the verses that follow. The poet uses language often found in battle scenes to describe the brutal impact of Hector’s death on his wife. This kind of metaphor surfaces in her characterization first in Book 6, when Homer uses the participle ἐντροπαλιζομένη, “turning around again and again,” otherwise reserved for retreating warriors or hunted animals, to describe Andromache as she reluctantly leaves Hector at the city gates (6.496). Many echoes of that wrenching exchange color the closing verses of Book 22.

The battle metaphors begin here with the adjective νηπίη (“childish, ignorant, without foresight,” 445), which is often used elsewhere of overconfident warriors about to suffer a setback (e.g. 2.873 and 4.406). Andromache, the good wife attending to her work, is about to learn that her whole world is doomed. When she hears the wailing, foreboding strikes:

τῆς δ᾽ ἐλελίχθη γυῖα, χαμαὶ δέ οἱ ἔκπεσε κερκίς

Her knees shook, and the shuttle fell to the ground.

Iliad 22.448

The verb used for “shook,” ἐλελίζω, also means “whirl around,” and is regularly used in the plural of troops turning around in formation (e.g., 5.497 and 11.214). The basic meaning is of violent, often twisting motion. The word is also used of a spear quivering in the ground (13.558) and Olympus shaking (1.530, 8.199). The second half of the line just quoted echoes a clause found several times in battle scenes, of something shaken from a man’s hand and falling:

τόξον δέ οἱ ἔκπεσε χειρός.

And the bow fell from his hand.

Iliad 8.329 = 15.465

The nouns νεκρός “corpse” (4.493) and δαλός, “torch” (15.421) also appear in the place of τόξον. Here the poet modifies what looks like a formulaic phrase, as κερκίς becomes the subject, replacing χειρός metrically, with the adverb χαμαί in the place of the original subject. The effect of these echoes is to implicitly compare Andromache being struck with fear to a warrior suffering a violent blow on the battlefield.

The battle metaphors continue in Andromache’s first words to her maids after she hears the mourners, when she says her heart leaps from her chest and “beats” (πάλλεται 452), in her mouth and her knees “go stiff” (πήγνυται, 453). Homer uses both verbs in battle scenes, the first of throwing a spear (e.g. 5.495, 6.104 ) or a stone (5.304, 12.449, 20.287), the second of a spear fixed in a shield or the earth (e.g. 5.40, 8.258, 22.276, 22.283). A few verses later, he extends the meaning of πάλλεται in an unusual phrase, παλλομένη κραδίην, “shaken in her heart” (461). Finally, when Andromache sees Achilles dragging Hector’s body behind his chariot, the full measure of horror falls on her, prompting one of Homer’s terse three-clause descriptions:

τὴν δὲ κατ᾽ ὀφθαλμῶν ἐρεβεννὴ νὺξ ἐκάλυψεν,
ἤριπε δ᾽ ἐξοπίσω, ἀπὸ δὲ ψυχὴν ἐκάπυσσε.

Black night covered over her eyes;
she fell backward, and breathed out her soul.

Iliad 22.466–67

The words of line 466 are used twice (with a change of gender in the pronoun) to describe a warrior’s death in battle (5.659, 13.580). The first half of line 467 echoes ἤριπε δ’ ἐξ ὀχέων, the phrase used elsewhere to describe a warrior falling out of his chariot (5.47, 5.294, 8.260).

Homer’s metaphor of Andromache as a fallen warrior is rich in its implications. Her response, as the poet describes it, is typical of grieving figures, mimicking Hector’s death in battle, drawing her closer to her lost husband. When he dies, something in her dies, too. But her intense identification with Hector in this scene is also part of Homer’s portrait of the extraordinary intimacy between the two that stretches back to their meeting in Book 6. There, Andromache tells Hector that he is her father, mother, brother, and husband (6.429–30), that she would rather be dead and buried than live without him, a sentiment he echoes soon after (6.410–11, 6.464–65). Their bond also suffuses Hector’s monologue in Book 22, in the phrases echoing their last meeting in Book 6 and the wistful fantasy of a boy and girl chatting. When she gives voice to her fears after hearing the wailing from the walls, a persistent theme surfaces once more:

How I wish that sound were far from my ears! But bitterly
I fear that bright Achilles has cut off my bold Hector
away from the city, and chases him across the plain,
and might put an end to that painful courage,
which held him always, since he would not stay in the crowd of men,
but would always run to the front, giving way to no one.

Iliad 22.454–59

The essence of a tragic hero in Greek literature is his/her defiance of the limits that usually constrain mortals, no matter the harm to themselves or, in most cases, to others who may love and depend on them. Homer has created in Hector a particularly intimate and therefore painful example: He always runs to the front of battle, in part because he can only understand himself as a man if he is always there (cf. 22.441–46). But unlike most other heroes, self-regard is not his primary motive. He fights in the forefront because he believes that being there is the best way to protect those he loves. Since the poet lets us see into his heart we also witness the pain caused by his separation from them.

Like Hecuba, Andromache throws off her veil when she sees Hector. But instead of καλύπτρα the poet uses the word κρήδεμνον, “head binder,” as he does elsewhere for the veils of Thetis, Penelope, and Nausicaa. By doing so he makes the wider implications of the gesture more explicit. The word in Homer and the Homeric Hymns for the battlements of a city is the plural of κρήδεμνον, the “head binder” for the city, (Il. 16.100; Od. 13.388; Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite 2; Homeric Hymn to Demeter 151). As he does with the simile of the burning city that follows Hecuba’s gesture (405–11), the poet puts before us once more the full import of Hector’s death, but now distilled into one potent metaphor: Violation is coming not just for Andromache but for all of Troy.

In the portrait of Andromache’s grief, the poet shows the depth of her connection with Hector. Her grief hits her like the blows that killed him. They are intertwined, body and soul, an intimacy between husband and wife that is rare in a culture as patriarchal as the Iliad’s, perhaps rivaled only by the bond between Odysseus and Penelope, though in an entirely different kind of story.

 

Further Reading

De Jong, I. J. F. 2012. Homer: Iliad Book XXII, 173–174. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Edwards, M. 1987. Homer: Poet of the Iliad, 298–300. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Griffin, J. 1980. Homer on Life and Death, 109–110. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Nagler, M. 1974. Spontaneity and Tradition: The Oral Art of Homer, 10, 53. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Richardson, N.J. 1993. The Iliad: A Commentary, Vol. VI, 152–154. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Schein, S. 1984. The Mortal Hero: An Introduction to Homer’s Iliad, 173–177. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Segal, C. 1971. “Andromache's Anagnorisis: Formulaic Artistry in Iliad 22.437–476.” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 75: 33–57

 

437: κλαίουσ᾽: = κλαίουσα nom. fem. pres. ptc. οὔ πώ τι: “not yet at all,” τι is adverbial (de Jong). πέπυστο: plpf. mid. > πυνθάνομαι, here used absolutely.

438: Ἕκτορος: “Hector’s (wife),” it seems best to connect the genitive Ἕκτορος with ἄλοχος rather than with πέπυστο, which usually introduces a genitive + participle, and ἄλοχος Ἕκτορος is a highly effective circumlocution. οἵ: “to her,” ind. object of ἤγγειλε, with accent from enclitic τις. ἐτήτυμος ἄγγελος ἐλθὼν: “coming as a truth-telling messenger.” ἄγγελος is used predicatively in Homer. ἐτήτυμος: “sure,” i.e. authentic. She first heard only the wailing (line 447), and feared the worst (455 ff.) (Monro).

439: ἤγγειλ᾽: = ἤγγειλε, 3rd sg aor. > ἀγγέλλω. ὅττι: = ὅτι, “that…,” introducing indirect discourse (Goodell 622). οἱ: “her,” possessive dative personal pronoun (Monro 143.1).

440: μυχῷ: “in an inner room” + gen., locative dative without preposition.

441: ἐν δὲ θρόνα ποικίλ’ ἔπασσε: “and she wove colorful flowery decorations in it,” (de Jong).

442: κέκλετο: “urged,” “commanded,” “exhorted” + dat. and inf., reduplicated aor. dep. mid > κέλομαι (Monro 36).

443: ἀμφὶ πυρὶ: “about the fire,” place where. στῆσαι: transitive aor. inf. > ἵστημι.

443–446: ὄφρα πέλοιτο: “so that there might be,” purpose clause, with optative (aor. dep. mid. > πέλομαι) after past tense κέκλετο (Monro 307).

444: Ἕκτορι: “for Hector,” dat. of interest (Goodell 523). μάχης ἐκ: = ἐκ μάχης, anastrophe.

445: : “that…,” = ὅτι, introducing ind. discourse (LSJ s.v. ὅς IV.1; Goodell 622). λοετρῶν: gen. of separation with τῆλε (Goodell 509.a).

446: χερσὶν: dat. pl. of means > χείρ.

447: κωκυτοῦ καὶ οἰμωγῆς: gen. with verb of hearing (Monro 151.d), see lines 407–409. δ᾽ ἤκουσε: “but she began to hear,” a strong adversative, perhaps an inceptive aorist (Goodell 464).

448: τῆς δ’ ἐλελίχθη γυῖα: “her limbs quivered.” ἐλέλιχθη: 3rd sg. aor. pass. > ἐλελίζω, plural subject. οἱ: either possessive dat. personal pronoun with κερκίς, or dat. of interest with ἔκπεσε. ἔκπεσε: aor. > ἐκπίπτω.

449: ἣ δ᾽: “and this one,” Andromache. μετηύδα: “addressed” + dat., 3rd sg. impf. > μεταυδάω.

450: δεῦτε: “come on,” this is originally an imperative (“come here”), but has weakened to a particle. ἕπεσθον: “you two follow,” dual 2nd pl. imperative, δύω is voc. direct address. ἴδωμ’: = ἴδωμαι, “let me see,” 1st sg. hortatory subj. Note the asyndeton. ὅτιν’ ἔργα τέτυκται: “what deeds have been done,” i.e. “what’s happened,” pf. pass. > τεύχω, 3rd sg. with neut. pl. subject.

451: ὀπὸς: “voice,” gen. (> unattested nom.) with verb of hearing (Monro 151.d). ἔκλυον: 1st sg. impf. with aorist sense. ἐμοὶ αὐτῇ/στήθεσι: “in me myself, in my chest,” i.e. “in my own chest,” intensified both by ἐμοὶ (vs. enclitic μοι) and by the intensive pronoun αὐτή.

452: πάλλεται ἦτορ ἀνὰ στόμα: “my heart is leaping up to my mouth.” ἀνὰ στόμα: i.e. as though it would come out at my mouth (Monro). νέρθε = ἔνερθε, “up from below.”

453: πήγνυται: “are frozen,” “are locked,” pres. pass. γοῦνα is the neuter pl. subject. ἐγγὺςτέκεσσιν: “near the children.”

454: αἲ γὰρ ἀπ' οὔατος εἴη ἐμεῦ ἔπος: “may my word be away from my ear,” i.e. “may what I now say not become true,” εἰ/αἴ γάρ + opt. of wish (Goodell 476).

455–456: μὴδίηται: “lest … put to flight,” clause of fearing, aor. mid. subj. > δίω (Goodell 610). μοι: ethical dative (Goodell 523).

456: ἀποτμήξας: “cutting off from” + gen., nom. sg. aor. ptc. πόλιος: gen. governed by ἀπο- of ἀποτμήξας.

457: καὶ δή: “and indeed (also),” introduces something similar in kind to what has preceded, but stronger in degree, and marks a kind of climax (de Jong). μιν καταπαύσῃ: “made him cease from” + gen., continuing the fearing clause, 3rd sg. aor. subj. Achilles is still subject. ἀλεγεινῆς: “unhappy,” because the cause of his death (Monro); “that causes me distress,” because it carries Hector into battle (Benner, following scholia).

458: : “which…,” relative, i.e. ἀγηνορίης.

458–459: ἔχεσκ᾽, προθέεσκε: iterative impf. > ἔχω (= ἔχεσκε) and > προθέω, note that Andromache already uses a past tense to describe Hector. ἐπεὶ: “(I say this) since…”

459: πολὺ: “often,” “much,” adverbial acc. τὸ ὃν μένος οὐδενὶ εἴκων: “yielding in that mighty spirit of his to no one” (Benner). τὸ ὃν μένος: acc. of specification. εἴκων: “retiring before,” “yielding to” + dat., nom. sg. pres. ptc.

460: μεγάροιο διέσσυτο: “she rushed through the palace,” μεγάροιο is a genitive governed by the διά- of διέσσυτο, impf. dep. mid. > διασεύομαι.

461: κραδίην: “in her heart,” acc. of respect with παλλομένη, “vibrating, palpitating, quivering.” See LSJ s.v. πάλλω II. ἄμααύτῇ: “along with (her) herself.”

462: πύργον, ὅμιλον: acc. of direction without preposition. ἷξεν: aor. > ἵκω.

463: ἔστη: 3rd sg. root aor. > ἵστημι. τὸν δὲ: “and … this one,” Hector.

464: πόλιος: gen. > πόλις, Att. πόλεως, obj. of πρόσθεν.

466: κατ᾽ ὀφθαλμῶν: “down over her eyes,” (Monro 213.2).

467: ἤριπε: “crashed down,” aor. > ἐρείπω, an expressive verb used of the fall of dead warriors and trees. ἀπὸἐκάπυσσε: “breathed out (her ψυχή),” > ἀποκαπύω in so-called tmesis.

468: κρατὸς: gen. > κάρη. βάλε: unaugmented aor. > βάλλω. δέσματα: “headgear” (Monro); a general word, to which ἄμπυκα (line 469), etc., are in apposition. Apparently the poet gives here the complete head-dress of a Homeric woman (Benner).

469: ἄμπυκα seems to indicate the same as στεφάνη, a metal diadem, especially of gold (Benner); a “diadem” of metal, hence the epithet χρυσάμπυκες, applied to the Muses (Hesiod, Theogony 916) and Seasons (Homeric Hymn 6.5) (Monro). τε ἰδὲ: “both … and.” πλεκτὴν ἀναδέσμην: “plaited band,” probably a thick band passing round the head behind the ears, represented on some Etruscan monuments of the archaic style (Monro, following Helbig).

470: θ᾽: = τε, “and.” : “which,” neuter acc. sg. οἱ: = αὐτῇ, dat. sg. ind. obj., 3rd pers. pronoun > ἑ.

471: ἤματι τῷ: “on that day,” = ἐκείνῳ τῷ ἤματι, dat. of time when (Goodell 527.c). μιν: Andromache, = αὐτήν. ἠγάγεθ᾽: “led her (in matrimony),” aor. mid. > ἄγω, the verb with middle voice often describes when men marry women and lead them home (LSJ s.v. ἄγω B.2).

472: πόρε:  “gave, furnished” 3rd sg. aor. > *πόρω, assumed present of the aor. act. ἔπορον and pf. pass. πέπρωμαι.

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Suggested Citation

Thomas Van Nortwick and Geoffrey Steadman, Homer: Iliad 6 and 22. Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Dickinson College Commentaries, 2018. ISBN: 978-1-947822-11-5.https://dcc.dickinson.edu/homer-iliad/homer-iliad-xxii-437-472