View source for Astyanax

{{Short description|Son of Hector in Greek mythology}}
{{other uses}}
{{distinguish|Astyages}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| image = Hector Astyanax MN Jatta.jpg
|caption=Astyanax, in Andromache's lap, reaches to touch his father's helmet before his duel with Achilles ([[Apulian vase painting|Apulian red-figure]] [[Krater#Column krater|column-crater]], ca. 370–360 BC).
| parents = [[Hector]]<br>[[Andromache]]
| siblings = [[Laodamas]], [[Oxynios]], [[Molossus (son of Neoptolemus)|Molossus]], [[Cestrinus]], [[Pergamus]], Pielus
| abode = Troy
}}

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Astyanax''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|s|t|aɪ|.|ə|n|æ|k|s}}; {{langx|grc|Ἀστυάναξ}} ''Astyánax'', "lord of the city") was the son of [[Hector]], the crown prince of Troy, and of his wife, Princess [[Andromache]] of [[Cilician Thebe]].<ref name="OCD">"Astyanax". ''Oxford Classical Dictionary''. Oxford, 1949, p. 101 (''s.v.'' "Ἀνδρομάχη").</ref> His birth name was '''Scamandrius''' (in Greek: Σκαμάνδριος Skamandrios, after the river [[Scamander]]<ref name="ACM">''A Classical Manual: Being a Mythological, Historical, and Geographical Commentary on Pope's Homer and Dryden's Aeneid of Virgil''. J. Murray, 1833, p. 189.</ref>), but the people of [[Troy]] nicknamed him Astyanax (i.e. high king, or overlord of the city), because he was the son of the city's great defender (''[[Iliad]]'' VI, 403) and the [[heir apparent]]'s firstborn son.

== Mythology ==
During the [[Trojan War]], Andromache hid the child in Hector's tomb, but the child was discovered. His fate was debated by the Greeks, for if he were allowed to live, it was feared he would avenge his father and rebuild Troy.<ref name="ACM" />  In the version given by the ''[[Little Iliad]]'' and repeated by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] (x 25.4), he was killed by [[Neoptolemus]] (also called Pyrrhus), who threw the infant from the walls,<ref name = "OCD" /> as predicted by Andromache in the Iliad.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Homer |title=Iliad |chapter=Book XřXIV}}</ref>  Another version is given in ''[[Iliou persis]]'', in which [[Odysseus]] kills Astyanax. It has also been depicted in some Greek vases that Neoptolemus kills [[Priam]], who has taken refuge near a sacred altar, using Astyanax's dead body to club the old king to death, in front of horrified onlookers.<ref>''Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae'' II.2.684–85</ref>

In [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', the child is thrown from the walls by the Greek victors (13, 413ff). In [[Euripides]]'s ''[[The Trojan Women]]'' (719 ff), the herald [[Talthybius]] reveals to Andromache that Odysseus has convinced the council to have the child thrown from the walls, and the child is in this way killed. In [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]]'s version of ''The Trojan Women'', the prophet [[Calchas]] declares that Astyanax must be thrown from the walls if the Greek fleet is to be allowed favorable winds (365–70), but once led to the tower, the child himself leaps off the walls (1100–3). For Hector's mother, [[Hecuba]], Astyanax was the only hope and consolation, and his death's announcement was a terrible climax of the catastrophe.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tOgWfjNIxoMC&q=Encyclopedia+of+Greek+and+roman+mythology+cite&pg=PP1|title=Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology|last1=Roman|first1=Luke|last2=Roman|first2=Monica|date=2010|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=9781438126395|pages=88|language=en}}</ref> Other sources for the story of the Sack of Troy and Astyanax's death can be found in the ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)]]'', [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] (''Fabula'' 109), [[Tryphiodorus]] (''Sack of Troy'' 644–6).<ref>Graves, Robert. ''The Greek Myths'' (Volume 2). Pelican, 1955, 1960, p. 343.</ref>

==Survival==
[[File:Astianax.jpg|thumb|200px|right|An engraving showing the child Astyanax thrown from the walls of Troy as his mother Andromache looks on]]

[[Dictys Cretensis]] has Neoptolemus give "the sons of Hector" to [[Helenus]] as a reward for betraying his family.<ref>Trojan War Chonicle 5.16, Dictys Cretensis.</ref> [[Conon (mythographer)|Conon]] records how he and his brother [[Oxynios]] were sent to [[Lydia]] for safety, then returned after the war to rebuild Troy.<ref>Narrations 46, Conon.</ref> In Abas' lost ''Troika,'' it is said Astyanax takes over the city after its destruction. He is ousted from the throne by [[Antenor (Trojan)|Antenor]] but then restored by [[Aeneas]].<ref>''Troy Between Greece and Rome: Local Tradition and Imperial Power.'' Erskine, Andrew (2001). </ref>

There are also stories from the [[Middle Ages]] and [[Renaissance]] that have Astyanax survive the destruction of Troy:

* In one version{{which|date=February 2024}}, either [[Talthybius]] finds he cannot bear to kill him or else kills a slave's child in his place. Astyanax survives to found settlements in [[Corsica]] and [[Sardinia]].
*The ''[[Chronicle of Fredegar]]'' contains the oldest mention of a medieval legend linking the [[Franks]] to the Trojans.<ref>{{in lang|fr}}  Hasenohr, Geneviève and Zink, Michel (eds.) ''Dictionnaire des lettres françaises: Le Moyen Age''. Collection: La Pochothèque. Paris: Fayard, 1992, p. 472, {{ISBN|2-253-05662-6}}.</ref> One legend, as further elaborated through the Middle Ages, established Astyanax, renamed "[[Francus]]", as the founder of the [[Merovingian]] dynasty and forefather of [[Charlemagne]].
* In [[Jerome|St Jerome]]'s [[Chronicon (Jerome)|Chronicon]]<ref>[https://tertullian.org/fathers/jerome_chronicle_02_part1.htm The Chronicle of St. Jerome], translated by Roger Pearse (2005).</ref> and [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]]'s ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'',<ref name="HRB 1">{{cite wikisource | author=[[Geoffrey of Monmouth]] | wslink=Six Old English Chronicles/Geoffrey's British History | chapter=Book 1 | plaintitle=[[Historia Regum Britanniae]] | at=Chapters 12, 18 }}</ref> the sons of Hector are said to have reigned in Troy after the expulsion of [[Antenor of Troy|Antenor]] and his followers.
* In [[Matteo Maria Boiardo]]'s ''[[Orlando innamorato]]'' (1495), Andromache saves Astyanax by hiding him in a tomb, replacing him with another child who is killed along with her by the Greeks. Taken to Sicily, Astyanax becomes the ruler of [[Messina]], killing the giant-king of [[Agrigento]] (named Agranor) and marries the queen of [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]]. He is killed treacherously by [[Aegisthus]], but his wife escapes to Reggio and bears a son (Polidoro), from whom the epic hero [[Ruggiero (character)|Ruggiero]] is descended (III, v, 18-27). In this tradition, the epic hero [[Roland]]'s sword [[Durendal]] is the very sword used by Hector, and Roland wins the sword by defeating a Saracen knight (Almonte, the son of [[Agolant]]) who had defeated Ruggiero II.
*In [[Ludovico Ariosto]]'s ''[[Orlando Furioso]]'', a continuation of Boiardo's poem, Astyanax is saved from Odysseus (36.70) by substituting another boy of his age for himself. Astyanax arrives in [[Sicily]], eventually becomes King of Messina, and his heirs later rule over [[Calabria]] (36.70–73). From these rulers is descended Ruggiero II, father of the hero Ruggiero, legendary founder of the [[house of Este]].
* Based on the medieval legend, [[Jean Lemaire de Belges]]'s ''Illustrations de Gaule et Singularités de Troie'' (1510–12) has Astyanax survive the fall of Troy and arrive in Western Europe. He changes his name to Francus and becomes King of [[Gaul|Celtic Gaul]] (while, at the same time, ''Bavo'', cousin of [[Priam]], comes to the city of [[Trier]]) and founds the dynasty leading to [[Pepin the Short|Pepin]] and [[Charlemagne]].<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Simonin, Michel (ed.) ''Dictionnaire des lettres françaises - Le XVIe siècle''. Paris: Fayard, 2001, p. 726, {{ISBN|2-253-05663-4}}</ref>
*Lemaire de Belges' work inspired [[Pierre de Ronsard]]'s epic poem ''La Franciade'' (1572). In this poem, Jupiter saves Astyanax (renamed Francus). The young hero arrives in Crete and falls in love with the princess Hyanthe with whom he is destined to found the royal dynasty of France.
*In [[Jean Racine]]'s play ''[[Andromaque]]'' (1667), Astyanax has narrowly escaped death at the hands of Odysseus, who has unknowingly been tricked into killing another child in his place. Andromache has been taken prisoner in [[Epirus]] by Neoptolemus (''Pyrrhus'') who is due to be married to [[Hermione (mythology)|Hermione]], the only daughter of the [[Sparta]]n king [[Menelaus]] and [[Helen of Troy]]. [[Orestes]], son of [[Agamemnon]] and [[Clytemnestra]], brother to [[Electra]] and [[Iphigenia]], and by now absolved of the crime of [[matricide]] prophesied by the [[Delphi| Delphic oracle]], has come to the court of Pyrrhus to plead on behalf of the Greeks for the return of Astyanax.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commonscat-inline}}

{{Characters in the Iliad}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Trojans]]
[[Category:Executed children]]
[[Category:Heracleidae]]
[[Category:Children in Greek mythology]]