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{{short description|Wife of Hector in Greek mythology}}
{{distinguish|Andromeda (mythology)}}
{{other uses}}
[[Image:Andromache mourns Hector.jpg|thumb|''[[Andromache Mourning Hector]]'' by [[Jacques-Louis David]], 1783]]

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Andromache''' ({{IPAc-en|æ|n|ˈ|d|r|ɒ|m|ə|k|iː}}; {{langx|grc|Ἀνδρομάχη}}, {{Lang|grc-Latn|Andromákhē}} {{IPA|el|andromákʰɛ:|}}) was the wife of [[Hector]], daughter of [[Eetion]], and sister to [[Podes]].<ref>Homer, ''The Iliad'' XVII 575-590</ref> She was born and raised in the city of [[Cilician Thebe]], over which her father ruled.  The name means "man battler", "fighter of men" or "man's battle", i.e. "courage" or "manly virtue", from the Greek stem {{wikt-lang|grc|ἀνδρο-|ἀνδρ-}} ("man"), the [[compound (linguistics)|compound]] [[interfix]] {{wikt-lang|grc|-ο-}} and {{wikt-lang|grc|μάχη}} ("battle").<ref>{{cite web |last=Campbell |first=Mike |title=Andromache |work=Behind the Name |url=http://www.behindthename.com/name/andromache |access-date=2007-11-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071210141549/http://www.behindthename.com/name/andromache |archive-date=10 December 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Following the [[Trojan War]], after [[Achilles]] had killed Hector and Troy had been captured and sacked by the Greeks, the Greek herald [[Talthybius]] informed her of a plan to kill [[Astyanax]], her son by Hector, by throwing him from the city walls. This act was carried out by [[Neoptolemus]] who then took Andromache as a concubine and Hector's brother, [[Helenus]], as a slave.<ref name=":3">Euripides, ''Trojan Women''</ref> By Neoptolemus, she was the mother of [[Molossus (son of Neoptolemus)|Molossus]], and according to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]],<ref name=":1">Pausanias, 1.11.1</ref> of [[Pielus (mythology)|Pielus]] and [[Pergamus]]. When Neoptolemus died, Andromache married Helenus and became Queen of [[Epirus]]. Pausanias also implies that Helenus' son, [[Cestrinus]], was by Andromache. In Epirus Andromache faithfully continued to make offerings at [[Hector]]’s cenotaph.<ref name=":0">Roman, L., & Roman, M. (2010). {{Google books|tOgWfjNIxoMC|Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman mythology.|page=60}} </ref> Andromache eventually went to live with her youngest son, Pergamus in [[Pergamum]], where she died of old age. Andromache was famous for her fidelity and virtue; her character represents the suffering of Trojan women during war.<ref name=":0" />

== Description ==
Andromache was described by the chronicler [[John Malalas|Malalas]] in his account of the ''Chronography'' as "above average height, thin, well turned out, good nose, good breasts, good eyes, good brows, wooly hair, blondish hair long in back, large-featured, good neck, dimples on her cheeks, charming, quick".<ref>[[John Malalas|Malalas]], ''Chronography'' [https://topostext.org/work/793#5.106 5.106]</ref> Meanwhile, in the account of [[Dares Phrygius|Dares the Phrygian]], she was illustrated as ". . .bright-eyed and fair, with a tall and beautiful body. She was modest, wise, chaste, and charming."<ref>[[Dares Phrygius]], ''History of the Fall of Troy'' [https://www.theoi.com/Text/DaresPhrygius.html 12]</ref>

==Life==
[[Image:Leighton Captive Andromache.jpg|thumb|upright=2|''Andromache in Captivity'' by [[Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton|Frederic Leighton]] (c. 1886)]]

=== Families ===
Andromache was born in [[Cilician Thebe]], a city that the [[Achaeans (Homer)|Achaeans ]] later sacked, with Achilles killing her father [[Eetion]] and seven brothers.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Minchin |first=Elizabeth |date=2011 |title=Andromache |encyclopedia=The Homer Encyclopedia |editor=M. Finkelberg |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |pages=53–54 |isbn=978-1-4051-7768-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gTxCvwEACAAJ&pg=PA53}}</ref> After this, her mother died of illness (6.425).  She was taken from her father's household by Hector, who had brought countless wedding-gifts (22.470-72). Thus [[Priam]]’s household alone provides Andromache with her only familial support. In contrast to the inappropriate relationship of [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]] and [[Helen of Troy|Helen]], Hector and Andromache fit the Greek ideal of a happy and productive marriage, which heightens the tragedy of their shared misfortune. Andromache and Hector have a son together, named Scamandrius but called [[Astyanax]] by both the people of Troy and Homer.<ref>Homer, ''The'' ''Iliad'' VI 369-493</ref> According to some accounts, they had other children including [[Oxynios]]<ref>Narrations 46, [[Conon (mythographer)|Conon]].</ref> and [[Laodamas]].<ref>Trojan War Chonicle 6.12, [[Dictys Cretensis]].</ref>

Andromache is alone after [[Troy]] falls and her son is killed. Notably, Andromache remains unnamed in ''Iliad'' 22, referred to only as the wife of Hector (Greek ''alokhos''), indicating the centrality of her status as Hector's wife and of the marriage itself to her identity.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Segal |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Segal (classicist) |title=Andromache's Anagnorisis: Formulaic Artistry in ''Iliad'' 22.437–476 |journal=[[Harvard Studies in Classical Philology]] |volume=75 |date=1971 |pages=33–57 |jstor=311213 |doi=10.2307/311213}}</ref> The Greeks divide the Trojan women as spoils of war and permanently separate them from the ruins of Troy and from one another. Hector's fears of her life as a captive woman are realized as her family is entirely stripped from her by the violence of war, as she fulfills the fate of conquered women in ancient warfare (6.450–465). Without her familial structure, Andromache is a displaced woman who must live outside familiar and even safe societal boundaries.

=== Life after the fall of Troy ===
[[File:Guérin Andromaque et Pyrrhus 1810.jpg|thumb|''[[Andromache and Pyrrhus]]'' by [[Pierre-Narcisse Guérin]], 1810]]
After Troy falls, Andromache is given as a concubine to [[Neoptolemus]], also called Pyrrhus, son of [[Achilles]], after her son Astyanax is murdered at the suggestion of [[Odysseus]], who fears he will grow up to avenge his father Hector.<ref name=":3" /> She goes with him to Phthia, where [[Thetis]] and [[Peleus]], the parents of Achilles, lived.<ref name=":2">Euripides, ''Andromache''</ref> Hyginus calls her son [[Amphialus]],<ref>Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' 123</ref> while Euripides gives his name as [[Molossus (son of Neoptolemus)|Molossus]]<ref name=":2" /> and Pausanias says that she has three children, named Molossus, Pielus and [[Pergamus]].<ref name=":1" /> In Euripides' ''Andromache'', Hermione, the wife of Neoptolemus and daughter of Helen and [[Menelaus]], tries to kill Andromache because she believes Andromache has cursed her with infertility. In the play, Neoptolemus is killed by [[Orestes]], who marries Hermione, and the goddess [[Thetis]] announces that Andromache will marry her ex-brother-in-law [[Helenus of Troy|Helenus]] and live with him in "the land of the Molossians", where her son Molossus will start "an unbroken succession of kings who will live happy lives".<ref name=":2" /> In Pausanias' account Helenus' son [[Cestrinus]] was the child of Andromache.<ref name=":1" /> [[Aeneas]] also visits Andromache and Helenus when they are living in Buthrotum, Chaonia, where Helenus gives him a prophecy and Andromache brings robes and a Phrygian cloak for Aeneas' son Ascanius and tells him he is "the sole image left to [her] of [her] Astyanax".<ref name=":4">Virgil, ''Aeneid'' 278-505</ref> Because Buthrotum functions as a hollow replica of the once-vibrant, razed Troy in the ''Aeneid'', Andromache's dedications to the city--particularly Hector's grave--represent her dedication to her family and people.<ref name=":4" /> Andromache's actions after the fall of Troy thus reaffirm her virtuosity represented throughout Homer's ''Iliad'' and Vergil's ''Aeneid''. Pausanias, writing in the 2nd century AD, says that "there is still a shrine [to Andromache] in the city" that was named after her son Pergamus.<ref name=":1" />

== Role in society ==

===Mourning her husband===
Andromache's gradual discovery of her husband's death and her immediate lamentation (22.437–515) culminate the shorter lamentations of Priam and [[Hecuba]] upon Hector's death (22.405–36). In accordance with traditional customs of mourning, Andromache responds with an immediate and impulsive outburst of grief (''goos'') that begins the ritual lamentation.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Haussker|first=Faya|date=2011 |title=Lament|encyclopedia=The Homer Encyclopedia |editor=M. Finkelberg |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |pages=455–456 |isbn=978-1-4051-7768-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gTxCvwEACAAJ&pg=PA53}}</ref> She casts away her various pieces of headdress (22.468-72) and leads the Trojan women in ritual mourning, both of which they did (22.405–36). Although Andromache adheres to the formal practice of female lamentation in Homeric epic,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Lateiner|first=Donald|date=2011 |title=Weeping|encyclopedia=The Homer Encyclopedia |editor=M. Finkelberg |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |pages=933–934 |isbn=978-1-4051-7768-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gTxCvwEACAAJ&pg=PA933}}</ref> the raw emotion of her discovery yields a miserable beginning to a new era in her life without her husband and, ultimately, without a home. The final stage of the mourning process occurs in ''Iliad'' 24 in the formal, communal grieving (''thrēnos'') upon the return of Hector's body (24.703–804). In a fragment of [[Ennius]]' ''Andromacha'', quoted by [[Cicero]] in the Tusculan Disputations (3.44-46), Andromacha sings about her loss of Hector.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Euripides |title=ENNIUS, Tragedies |url=https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ennius-tragedies/2018/pb_LCL537.29.xml |access-date=17 October 2022 |website=Loeb Classical Library}}</ref>

===Duties as wife===
In ''Iliad'' 22, Andromache is portrayed as the perfect wife, weaving a cloak for her husband in the innermost chambers of the house and preparing a bath in anticipation of his return from battle (22.440–6). Here she is carrying out an action Hector had ordered her to perform during their conversation in ''Iliad'' 6 (6.490–92), and this obedience is another display of womanly virtue in Homer's eyes.<ref>{{cite book|last=Keller|first=Albert Galloway|author-link=Albert Galloway Keller|title=Homeric Society: A Sociological Study of the Iliad and Odyssey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D3tzAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA230|year=1913|publisher=Longmans, Green, and Company|location=New York|page=230}}</ref> However, Andromache is seen in ''Iliad'' 6 in an unusual place for the traditional housewife, standing before the ramparts of Troy (6.370–373). Traditional gender roles are breached as well, as Andromache gives Hector military advice (6.433–439). Although her behavior may seem nontraditional, hard times disrupt the separate spheres of men and women, requiring a shared civic response to the defence of the city as a whole.<ref>[[Barbara Graziosi|Graziosi, Barbara]], and Haubold, Johannes, ed. Homer Iliad Book VI. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. pp. 44–46.</ref> Andromache's sudden tactical lecture is a way to keep Hector close, by guarding a section of the wall instead of fighting out in the plains. Andromache's role as a mother, a fundamental element of her position in marriage, is emphasized within this same conversation. Their infant son, Astyanax, is also present at the ramparts as a maid tends to him. Hector takes his son from the maid, yet returns him to his wife, a small action that provides great insight into the importance Homer placed on her care-taking duties as mother (6.466–483). A bonding moment between mother and father occurs in this scene when Hector's helmet scares Astyanax, providing a moment of light relief in the story. After Hector's death in ''Iliad'' 22, Andromache's foremost concern is Astyanax's fate as a mistreated orphan (22.477–514).

== Classical treatment ==

*[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad|The Iliad]]'' VI, 390–470: XXII 437–515
* [[Sappho]], [[Sappho 44|Fragment 44]]
* [[Euripides]], ''[[Andromache (play)|Andromache]]''.
* [[Euripides]], ''[[The Trojan Women]]''.
*[[Ennius]], ''Andromacha'' ''TrRF'' II 23.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Čulík-Baird |first=Hannah |date=2019 |title=Staging Roman Slavery in the Second Century BCE |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ramus/article/abs/staging-roman-slavery-in-the-second-century-bce/AA3E1BB0B5DC16A3C1F8F6BB18BE4BCE |journal=Ramus |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=188–195|doi=10.1017/rmu.2019.16 |s2cid=213262911 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> 
* [[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' III, 278–355.
* [[Ovid]], ''[[Ars Amatoria]]'' III, 777–778.
* [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''The Trojan Women''.
* ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' III, xii, 6, ''[[Epitome]]'' V, 23; VI, 12.

==Modern treatment==
{{Not to be confused|text=the fictional character ''Andromache of Scythia'' of the 2020 film [[The Old Guard (2020 film)|The Old Guard]]}}
[[Image:Trojan Women - Andromache.jpg|thumb| Aomawa Baker (Andromache) in [[Euripides]]' ''The Trojan Women'', directed by [[Brad Mays]] at the [[ARK Theatre Company]] in Los Angeles, 2003]]

Andromache is the subject of a tragedy by French classical playwright [[Jean Racine]] (1639–1699), entitled ''[[Andromaque]]'', and a minor character in [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Troilus and Cressida]]''. "The Andromache" is referenced in The Duc De L'Omelette written by Edgar Allan Poe in published in 1832. In 1857, she also importantly appears in [[Charles Baudelaire|Baudelaire]]'s poem, "Le Cygne", in ''[[Les Fleurs du Mal]]''. Andromache is the subject of a 1932 [[opera]] by German composer [[Herbert Windt]] and also a lyric scena  for soprano and orchestra by [[Samuel Barber]]. She was portrayed by [[Vanessa Redgrave]] in the 1971 film version of Euripides' ''[[The Trojan Women]]'', and by [[Saffron Burrows]] in the 2004 film ''[[Troy (film)|Troy]]''. She also appears as a character in [[David Gemmell]]'s ''Troy'' series. In the 2018 TV miniseries ''[[Troy: Fall of a City]]'', she was portrayed by [[Chloe Pirrie]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://deadline.com/2017/03/troy-fall-of-a-city-cast-bella-dayne-louis-hunter-joseph-mawle-frances-oconnor-david-threlfall-bbc-netflix-1202055633/ |title='Troy: Fall of a City': Bella Dayne, Louis Hunter & More Join BBC/Netflix Epic|date=March 30, 2017 |magazine=Deadline |language=en-US |access-date=April 1, 2017}}</ref> Andromache is one of the main characters of the 2023 fictional retelling of Troy, ''Horses of Fire'' by A.D. Rhine (pseudonym of Ashlee Cowles and Danielle Stinson).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Horses of Fire by A. D. Rhine: 9780593473061 {{!}} PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/719608/horses-of-fire-by-a-d-rhine/ |access-date=2023-08-01 |website=PenguinRandomhouse.com |language=en-US}}</ref>  
{{clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Andromache}}
{{wikisource|Portal:Andromache|Andromache}}
* {{cite EB9 |wstitle=Andromache |volume=2 |page=22  |short=x}}
* {{cite EB1911 |mode=cs2 |wstitle=Andromache |volume=1 |ref={{harvid|EB|1911}} |page=975 |short=x}}
* {{cite DGRBM |last= |first= |wstitle=Andromache |volume=1 |page=172|url=|short=x}}
* {{cite Q|Q115734964|editor1=Henry Gardiner Adams}}<!-- [[s:A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/]] -->


{{Characters in the Iliad}}
{{Aeneid}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andromache}}

[[Category:Characters in the Aeneid]]
[[Category:Princesses in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Trojans]]
[[Category:Women of the Trojan war]]
[[Category:Greek mythological slaves]]
[[Category:Characters in the Iliad]]