Who was the wife of Hector in the Iliad?

Andromache was the wife of Hector in the Iliad. She is a Trojan noblewoman and the mother of their young son, Astyanax. Her relationship with Hector provides one of the poem’s clearest views of how war affects families beyond the battlefield.

In their famous meeting near Troy’s walls, Andromache begs Hector not to return to combat because she fears losing him and becoming widowed. She has already suffered devastating losses: Achilles killed her father Eetion and her brothers when he attacked Thebe. Hector understands her fear but believes he must defend Troy and preserve his honor.

Andromache is sometimes confused with Helen, whose relationship with Paris is central to the war’s backstory, or with Cassandra, the Trojan princess cursed to make true prophecies that no one believes. Andromache’s story continues after the Iliad: following Troy’s fall, she is taken by Neoptolemus, Achilles’ son, while Astyanax is killed by the Greeks in later tradition.