Andromache

Andromache (Ἀνδρομάχη) was the daughter of Eëtion (Eetion), the king of Thebes in the Troad. Andromache became the wife of the Trojan prince named Hector, the son of Priam and Hecuba. They had a son named Astyanax, who was also sometimes called Scamandrius.

When the Greeks assaulted Troy, Achilles was sent with strong contingents against the Troy's neighbouring cities, to cut off supplies and reinforcements for Troy. Among those cities that Achilles sacked was Thebes. Achilles killed Andromache's father Eëtion and her seven brothers.

During the interlude in the battlefield, there's was a moving scene of Hector meeting his wife and son at the temple of Athena. Andromache would lose her husband several days later. Hector killed Patroclus, Achilles' beloved companion. The following day, Achilles sought and killed Hector in single combat, outside the city wall.

When Troy fell, Andromache lost her son Astyanax. At Odysseus' advice, Astyanax was thrown off the wall so that the son of Hector would not take any vengeance on the Greeks in the future.

To add insult to injury, the Greeks gave Andromache to Neoptolemus, the son of the killer of her husband, father and brothers, as a concubine. However, Andromache and Helenus, the seer and brother of Hector, were well treated by Neoptolemus. Neoptolemus founded a kingdom in Epeirus, a large region in north-west Greece. Andromache bore Neoptolemus three sons – Molossus, Pergamus and Pielus.

Neoptolemus set Andromache and Helenus free, when Neoptolemus decided to marry Hermione the daughter of Menelaüs (Menelaus) and Helen. Helenus and Andromache married and set up a kingdom in Buthrotum, a city in Epeirus.

In Euripides' tragedy, called Andromache, she was still serving as Neoptolemus' concubine when he married Hermione. The marriage didn't last long because she had taken her cousin Orestes, the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, as her lover. Orestes and Hermione conspired with Menelaüs to murder Neoptolemus. Once again Orestes committed bloody murder. Hermione would have had Orestes murder Andromache and her sons had the aged hero Peleus not rescued them and given them refuge in his kingdom.

Later, Molossus founded a kingdom in northern Epeirus which was named after him, while Pergamus conquered a Mysian city called Teuthrania, which he renamed to Pergamon or Pergamum.