View source for Hecuba

{{Short description|Spouse of king Priam in Greek mythology}}
{{about|the mythological figure|other uses}}{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| image =Euthymides ARV 26 1 Hector arming - komos (06).jpg
| caption = Hecuba depicted on a vase of the 6th century BC
| siblings = (2) [[Theano of Troy|Theano]]
| name = Hecuba
| offspring = (i) & (ii) [[Troilus]] and [[Hector]]<br>(ii) [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]], [[Cassandra]], [[Helenus]], [[Deiphobus]], [[Laodice (daughter of Priam)|Laodice]], [[Polyxena]], [[Creusa of Troy|Creusa]], [[Polydorus]], [[Polites of Troy|Polites]], [[Antiphus]], [[Pammon]], [[Hipponous]] and [[Ilione|Iliona]]
| consort = (i) [[Apollo]]<br>(ii) [[Priam]]
| abode = [[Phrygia]] or [[Thrace]], later Troy
| deity_of = Queen of [[Troy]]
| parents = (1) [[Dymas of Phrygia|Dymas]] and [[Evagore (mythology)|Euagora]] or [[Glaucippe]] or [[Eunoë]]<br>(2) [[Cisseus]] and [[Telecleia]]<br>(3) [[Sangarius (mythology)|Sangarius]] and [[Metope (mythology)|Metope]] or Euagora or Glaucippe
| member_of = the Trojan Royal Family
| other_names = Hecabe, Dymantis
}}
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Hecuba''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|ɛ|k|j|ʊ|b|ə}}; also '''Hecabe'''; {{langx|grc|Ἑκάβη|Hekábē}}, {{IPA|el|hekábɛ:|pron}}), was the wife of King [[Priam]] and queen of [[Troy]] during the [[Trojan War]].<ref>''[[The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language]]'', Fourth Edition: [http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Hekuba "Hecuba"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323111452/http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Hekuba |date=2012-03-23 }}</ref> With Priam, she was the mother of the warriors [[Hector]] and [[Troilus]]; [[Helen of Troy|Helen's]] suitor [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]]; and the [[Prophet|prophetess]] [[Cassandra]].

{{Trojan War}}

== Description ==
In his ''Chronography'', the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] chronicler [[John Malalas|Malalas]] described Hecuba as "dark, good eyes, full grown, long nose, beautiful, generous, talkative, calm."<ref>[[John Malalas|Malalas]], ''Chronography'' [https://topostext.org/work/793#5.106 5.106]</ref> [[Dares Phrygius|Dares the Phrygian]] described her as "...beautiful, her figure large, her complexion dark. She thought like a man and was pious and just."<ref>[[Dares Phrygius]], ''History of the Fall of Troy'' [https://www.theoi.com/Text/DaresPhrygius.html 12]</ref>

== Family ==

=== Parentage ===
Ancient sources vary regarding Hecuba's parentage.<ref>[[James George Frazer|Frazer]]'s note 21 on [[Pseudo-Apollodorus]], ''Bibliotheca'', 3. 12. 5. In: Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.</ref> According to [[Homer]], Hecuba was the daughter of King [[Dymas (king of Phrygia)|Dymas]] of [[Phrygia]].<ref>''Iliad'', 16. 715</ref> [[Euripides]]<ref>Euripides, ''Hecuba'', 3</ref> and [[Virgil]]<ref>Virgil, ''[[Aeneid]] 7. 320; 10. 705'',</ref> claimed she was the daughter of the [[Thrace|Thracian]] king [[Cisseus]]. The mythographers [[Pseudo-Apollodorus]] and [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] left the question of her parentage open, with Pseudo-Apollodorus adding a third alternative option: the [[River gods (Greek mythology)|river god]] [[Sangarius (mythology)|Sangarius]] and the [[nymph]] [[Metope (mythology)|Metope]].<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], 3.12.5</ref><ref>Hyginus, ''Fabulae'', 91, 111, 249</ref>

Some versions from non-extant works are summarized by a [[scholia]]st on Euripides' ''[[Hecuba (play)|Hecuba]].''<ref>Scholia on Euripides, ''Hecuba'' 3</ref> According to them, she was a daughter of Dymas or [[Sangarius (mythology)|Sangarius]] by the [[Naiad]] [[Evagore (mythology)|Euagora]], or by [[Glaucippe]], daughter of Xanthus ([[Scamander]]?). The possibility of her being a daughter of Cisseus is also discussed. A scholiast on Homer relates that Hecuba's parents were either Dymas and the [[nymph]] Eunoe, or Cisseus and [[Telecleia]];<ref>Scholia on ''Iliad'', 16. 718, referring to [[Pherecydes of Athens|Pherecydes]] and [[Athenion of Maroneia|Athenion]] for the two versions respectively</ref> the latter option would make her a full sister of [[Theano (wife of Antenor)|Theano]], which is also noted by the scholiast on Euripides cited above.

According to [[Suetonius]] in ''[[The Twelve Caesars]]'', the emperor [[Tiberius]] pestered scholars with obscure questions about ancient mythology, with one of his favorites being "Who was Hecuba's mother?"<ref>Suetonius, ''The Twelve Caesars'', Chapter 2 (Tiberius), paragraph 72</ref>

=== Offspring ===
{{main|List of children of Priam}}

Hecuba had 19 children, some of which included major characters of [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'' such as the warriors [[Hector]] and [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]], as well as the prophetess [[Cassandra]]. Two of them, Hector<ref>[[Stesichorus]], Fr. 108; [[Tzetzes]], ''On Lycophron''; Porphyry in his ''Omissions'' states that [[Ibycus]], Alexander, [[Euphorion (playwright)|Euphorion]] and [[Lycophron]] all made Hector the son of Apollo</ref> and [[Troilus]],<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''Bibliotheca'' 3. 12. 5 & E3. 32</ref> are said to have been born as a result of Hecuba's relationship with the god [[Apollo]]. Other named children of Hecuba by Priam are [[Helenus]], [[Deiphobus]], [[Laodice (daughter of Priam)|Laodice]], [[Polyxena]], [[Creusa of Troy|Creusa]], [[Polydorus]], [[Polites of Troy|Polites]], [[Antiphus]], [[Pammon]], [[Hipponous]] and [[Ilione|Iliona]].
{| class="wikitable"
|+<big>Comparative table of Hecuba's family</big>
! rowspan="3" |'''Relation'''
! rowspan="3" |Names
! colspan="9" |Sources
|-
|Hom.
| colspan="2" |Euripides
| rowspan="2" |Diod.
|Virgil
|Ovid
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |Apollod.
| rowspan="2" |''Dictys''
|-
|''Iliad''
|''TW''
|''Hec.''
|''Aen.''
|''Met.''
|-
| rowspan="3" |''Parents''
|Dymas
|✓
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|✓
|✓
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|Cisseus
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|✓
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|Sangarius and Metope
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|✓
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|-
| rowspan="2" |''Consort''
|Priam
|✓
|✓
|✓
|✓
|✓
|✓
|✓
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|✓
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|Apollo
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|-
|''Siblings''
|Asius
|✓
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|-
| rowspan="14" |''Children''
|Hector
|✓
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|✓
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|✓
|✓
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|Deiphobus
|✓
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|Polyxena
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|✓
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|✓
|✓
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|Cassandra
|✓
|✓
|✓
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|✓
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|Polydorus
|✓
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|✓
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|✓
|✓
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|Paris
|✓
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|✓
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|✓
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|Creusa
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|✓
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|Laodice
|✓
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|Helenus
|✓
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|Pammon
|✓
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|Polites
|✓
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|✓
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|Antiphus
|✓
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|✓
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|-

|Troilus
|✓
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|✓
|✓
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|}

== Myths ==

=== Hecuba in the ''Iliad'' ===

[[Image:Hector brought back to Troy.jpg|thumb|The death of Hector on a Roman sarcophagus, c. 200 AD]]Hecuba appears six times in the ''Iliad''. In Book 6.326–96, she meets Hector upon his return to the city and offers him the libation cup, instructing him to offer it to Zeus and to drink from it himself. Taking Hector's advice, she chooses a gown taken from Alexander's treasure to give as an offering to the goddess and leads the Trojan women to the temple of [[Athena]] to pray for help. In Book 22, she pleads with Hector not to fight [[Achilles]], expressing her premonition of "never get[ting] to mourn you laid out on a bier."<ref>Homer, ''The Iliad.'' Book 22, line 86</ref> In Book 24.201–16, she is stricken with anxiety upon hearing of Priam's plan to retrieve Hector's body from Achilles' hut. Further along in the same episode, at 24.287–98, she offers Priam the libation cup and instructs him to pray to Zeus so that he may receive a favourable omen upon setting out towards the Achaean camp.  Unlike in the first episode in which Hector refuses her offer of the cup, Priam accepts and is rewarded with the requested omen. Finally, she laments Hector's death in a well-known speech at 24.748–59.
[[File:Hecuba and Polyxena LACMA 73.3.jpg|thumb|''Hecuba and Polyxena'' by Merry-Joseph Blondel ]]

=== Hecuba in other classical works ===
[[Stesichorus]] states that after the sack of Troy, Apollo, Hecuba's former lover, took her to safety and placed her in Lycia.<ref>Stesichorus, Fr.109</ref><ref>Cecil Maurice Bowra, ''Greek Lyric Poetry from Alcman to Simonides, Volume 1''</ref>
 
The ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' (''Library'') of Pseudo-Apollodorus states that Hecuba had a son named [[Troilus]] with the god [[Apollo (god)|Apollo]]. An [[oracle]] prophesied that Troy would not be defeated if Troilus reached the age of 20 alive.  Troilus is killed by Achilles.

Hecuba is a main character in two plays by [[Euripides]]: ''[[The Trojan Women]]'' and ''[[Hecuba (play)|Hecuba]]''. ''The Trojan Women'' describes the aftermath of the fall of Troy, including Hecuba's enslavement by [[Odysseus]]. ''Hecuba'' also takes place just after the fall of Troy. [[Polydorus (son of Priam)|Polydorus]], the youngest son of Priam and Hecuba, is sent to King [[Polymestor]] for safekeeping, but when Troy falls, Polymestor murders Polydorus. Hecuba learns of this, and when Polymestor comes to the fallen city, Hecuba, by trickery, blinds him and kills his two sons.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://public.wsu.edu/~hughesc/hecuba.htm |title="Hecuba", Washington State University |access-date=2016-03-01 |archive-date=2015-05-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150513095604/http://public.wsu.edu/~hughesc/hecuba.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Another story says that when she was given to [[Odysseus]] as a slave, she snarled and cursed at him, so the gods turned her into a dog, allowing her to escape{{Citation needed|reason=Ancient sources give various explanations for her transformation, but none seem to refer to this|date=October 2025}}.  Hecuba, as a dog, is later [[Hecate#Sacred animals|taken-in]] by [[Hecate]] as one of her [[Familiar]]s.  

In another tradition, Hecuba went mad upon seeing the corpses of her children Polydorus and [[Polyxena]]. [[Dante]] described this episode, which he derived from [[Italy|Italian]] sources:
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}''
:   ''E quando la fortuna volse in basso''
:   ''l'altezza de' Troian che tutto ardiva,''
:   ''sì che 'nsieme col regno il re fu casso,''
:   ''Ecuba trista, misera e cattiva,''
:   ''poscia che vide Polissena morta,''
:   ''e del suo Polidoro in su la riva''
:   ''del mar si fu la dolorosa accorta,''
:   ''forsennata latrò sì come cane...''
{{col-2}}
:   And when fortune overturned the pride
:   of the Trojans, who dared everything, so that
:   both the king and his kingdom were destroyed,
:   Poor wretched captured Hecuba,
:   after she saw her Polyxena dead
:   and found her Polydorus on the beach,
:   was driven mad by sorrow
:   and began barking like a dog...
{{col-end}}

:—''Inferno'' XXX: 13–20

Another legend has it that Hecuba threw herself into the sea<ref>Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' 243</ref> and was transformed into "a she-dog with fiery eyes" and that she was buried in a "wretched" place called [[Kynosema]] ('dog's grave'), a "landmark for sailors".<ref>''Trojan Women: Euripides''. Greek Tragedy in New Translations. Translated by Alan Shapiro with Introduction and Noted by Alan Burian. Oxford University Press. 2009. p. 87. {{ISBN|978-0-19-537493-3}}</ref><ref>Koniaris, George Leonidas. "Alexander, Palamedes, Troades, Sisyphus - A Connected Tetralogy? A Connected Trilogy?". In: ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology''. Volume 78. Harvard University Press. 1973. pp. 120-121.</ref> The Kynosema is said to be a promontory located in modern day [[Kilidülbahir]].<ref>{{Citation |last=MacKie |first=C.J. |title=Boundary and divide: The antiquity of the Dardanelles |date=2016-01-05 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/CBO9781316278291A017/type/book_part |work=Anzac Battlefield |pages=4–23 |editor-last=Sagona |editor-first=Antonio |edition=1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9781316278291.004 |isbn=978-1-316-27829-1 |access-date=2022-10-17 |last2=Atabay |first2=Mithat |last3=Körpe |first3=Reyhan |last4=Sagona |first4=Antonio |editor2-last=Atabay |editor2-first=Mithat |editor3-last=Mackie |editor3-first=Christopher |editor4-last=McGibbon |editor4-first=Ian|url-access=subscription }}</ref> According to [[Lycophron]], she was rescued by the goddess [[Hecate]] and became one of her canine familiars.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theoi.com/Text/LycophronAlexandra.html |title=Lycophron, Alexandra |website=Theoi |department=Classical texts library }}</ref>

== Gallery ==
<gallery mode="packed-overlay">
File:Antonio Canova - Ecuba (1787-1792) - Plaster - Possagno, Fondazione Canova.jpg|alt=|''Hecuba Offering the Robe to Pallas'' by <bdi>[[Antonio Canova]]</bdi>
File:Hecuba filiumum invenit.png|alt=|''Hecuba finds her son Polydorus'' by <bdi>[[Virgil Solis]]</bdi>
File:Despair of Hecuba MET DP807920.jpg|alt=|''Despair of Hecuba'' by Pierre Peyron
File:Plate 124- Hecuba and the Trojan Women Murdering Polymestor (Hecuba Polymnestori oculos ervit), from Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' MET DP866529.jpg|alt=|''Hecuba and the Trojan Women Murdering Polymestor'' by <bdi>[[Antonio Tempesta]]</bdi>
File:Vieira Lusitano - Hecuba a Graecis rapitur.jpg|alt=|''Hecuba a Graecis'' by <bdi>[[Vieira Lusitano]]</bdi>
File:Michel Martin Drolling, Farewell of Hecuba and Polyxena, 1824 (Musée Crozatier au Puy-en-Velay).JPG|alt=|''Farewell of Hecuba and Polyxena'' by Michel Martin Drolling (1824)
File:Hecuba.jpg|alt=|''Hecuba Blinds Polymnestor'' by [[Giuseppe Crespi|Giuseppe Maria Crespi]]
File:Dream hecuba hi.jpg|alt=|''Dream of Hecuba'' by <bdi>[[Giulio Romano (painter)|Giulio Romano]]</bdi>
</gallery>

==In popular culture==
Hecuba is frequently referenced in classical literature, and in many medieval, Renaissance, and modern works. Among the works which are about Hecuba are:

* ''[[Hecuba (play)|Hecuba]]'' and ''[[The Trojan Women]]'', plays by [[Euripides]]
* ''[[Troades (Seneca)|Troades]]'', tragedy by [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]].
* ''[[The Trojan War Will Not Take Place]]'', play by [[Jean Giraudoux]]
* ''[[King Priam]]'', novel by [[David Park (novelist)|David Park]]
* ''All For Hecuba'' (1947) an autobiography of [[Micheál Mac Liammóir]] 
* ''Cortege of Eagles'' (1967), ballet by [[Martha Graham]]
* ''[[Gilligan's Island]]'' (1967), TV series, Ep.72; to impress brash movie producer Harold Hecuba ([[Phil Silvers]]), who has crash landed on their island, the castaways perform their own musical parody version of Shakespeare's ''[[Hamlet]]''.
* ''[[Passions]]'' (2000), [[soap opera]] featuring a character named Hecuba, played by [[Robin Strasser]], who is a supernatural antagonist to the town’s resident witch 
* ''[[Trojan Barbie]]'' (2006), play by Christine Evans
* Originally scripted for a ''[[Doctor Who]]'' script, Hecuba was intended to be ''[[The Celestial Toymaker]]'''s sister in the unmade Season 5 story The Queen of Time, this was turned to a ''[[Big Finish Productions|Big Finish]]'' audio story.  
* ''[[The House of Hades]]'' (2013) and ''[[Wrath of the Triple Goddess]]'' (2024), novels by [[Rick Riordan]]
* ''[[Troy: Fall of a City]]'' (2018) a [[miniseries]] in which Hecuba is portrayed by [[Frances O'Connor]]
* ''[[Bluey (TV series)|Bluey]]'' (2020) episode 2, season 2 "[[Hammerbarn]]", Hecuba features as Bingo's gnome husband

Hecuba is also referenced in other works:

* In ''[[Hamlet]]'', a play by William [[Shakespeare]]. In Act 2, scene 2, the character Hamlet marvels at the skill of an actor he has just watched perform a monologue about Hecuba witnessing Priam's death with convincing grief:  "What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, / That he should weep for her?"  Hamlet criticizes himself for grieving his father less authentically than the actor does on behalf of the imaginary Hecuba and Priam.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/hamlet-the-play-within-the-play|title=Hamlet: the play within the play|website=The British Library|access-date=2019-11-22|archive-date=2019-08-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190809092552/https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/hamlet-the-play-within-the-play|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* In Fortune Plango Vulnera (I Bemoan The Wounds Of Fortune), from the 13th C Latin and Goliardic poetry collection ''[[Carmina Burana]]'', which was set to  music in the movement Fate Imperatrix Mundi of ''[[Carmina Burana (Orff)|Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae cantoribus et choris cantandae comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicis]]'' by [[Carl Orff]], Hecuba is mentioned as an exemplar of those thrown down by fate and a warning: "Nam sub axe legimus, Hecubam reginam." (For beneath the axle is written, queen Hecuba)
* In [[Edith Wharton]]’s ''[[The Custom of the Country]]'', she describes Mrs. Spragg as "gaz[ing] after [Undine and Mr. Spragg] with the pale stare of Hecuba."

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==

=== Primary sources ===
* [[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' III.19–68
* [[Homer]], ''Iliad'' XIV.717–718
* [[Gaius Julius Solinus|Solinus]], ''[[De vita Caesarum]]'' X.22
* [[Lactantius]], ''Divinae institutions'' I.22
* [[Pomponius Mela]], ''De chorographia'' II.26
* [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' XIII.423–450, 481–571
* [[Euripides]], ''[[Trojan Women]]''
* [[Euripides]], [[Hecuba (play)|''Hecuba'']]

=== Secondary sources ===
* Tsotakou-Karveli. ''Lexicon of Greek Mythology''. Athens: Sokoli, 1990.

==External links==
{{commons category|Hecuba}}
* {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Hecuba |short=x}}

{{Characters in the Iliad}}
{{Metamorphoses in Greco-Roman mythology}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Queens in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Princesses in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Children of Greek river gods]]
[[Category:Female lovers of Apollo]]
[[Category:Women of the Trojan war]]
[[Category:Trojans]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses into animals in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Priam]]
[[Category:Mythological dogs]]
[[Category:Suicides in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Greek mythological slaves]]