In Trojan War mythology, Hector’s young son was named Astyanax.
Astyanax was the son of Hector, Troy’s greatest defender, and Andromache, daughter of the Cilician king Eetion. His birth name was Scamandrius, apparently connected with the nearby river Scamander, but the Trojans called him Astyanax, meaning “lord of the city.” The name reflected the hope that Hector’s child might one day inherit Troy.
Astyanax appears in emotionally important scenes in the Iliad. When Hector returns to the fighting, he briefly meets Andromache and their infant son. The child is frightened by Hector’s helmet, creating one of the poem’s best-known family moments.
Later Greek and Roman traditions give different accounts of Astyanax’s fate after Troy fell. The most widely known version says Neoptolemus threw him from the city walls, preventing him from growing up and restoring the Trojan royal line.