Hector says good-bye to his son

From Iliad Book VI

Hector is saying good-bye to his family. This is the scene in book VI where his wife, Andromache, begs him not to leave them. I know some of the story from the Aeneid. But the utterly ordinary interaction between father and son took me by surprise.

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Hector takes off his helmet and plays with his son _ Thorvaldsens Museum_A776

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A Soldier Says Good-bye

Shining helmet, fierce horsehair plume. Hector, crown prince of Troy, armored in bronze from head to toe, is taking leave of his wife and son on the great wall of Troy. He reaches to take the boy from the nursemaid’s arms, but his helmet catches the sun, and and his movements shake the plume, frightening the child. Astyanax cries, and twists away, back to his nurse.

But mother and father aren’t upset. They laugh, seeing the problem. This is not the first child frightened by the strange sight of his father, outfitted to fight.

Hector takes off his helmet and sets it on the ground. “See child,” he seems to say, “it’s really me, just me. Don’t worry. No need to cry.”

This time, when his father reaches for him, he comes. Hector lifts him up in the air, holding on firmly, as fathers do. A moment of play, smiling, then a kiss and a prayer.

Keep him safe, Zeus. Let him grow up. May they say of him, “He outdid his old man,” and “He made his mother proud.”

One more attempt to reassure his wife.

Then he bends down to get his helmet and put it back on. Hector goes to meet Paris. What will be will be. Perhaps Zeus and Pallas Athena will relent, will come through for Troy after all.

But back inside Hector’s house, Andromache and her women are mourning as if he were already dead.