Extract

In mythology, son of *Priam and *Hecuba, husband of *Andromache and father of *Astyanax (Il. 6. 394 ff.), and the greatest of the Trojan champions. In *Homer's Iliad he first appears leading the Trojans out to battle (2. 807 ff.); he reproaches *Paris for avoiding *Menelaus (1) (3. 38 ff.), and arranges the truce and the single combat between the two (85 ff.). He takes a prominent part in the fighting of books 5 and 6, but in the latter goes back to the city for a while to arrange for offerings to be made to the gods. He thus meets Andromache and Astyanax on the city walls in one of the best-known scenes of the Iliad, then returns with Paris to the battle. In book 7 he challenges any Greek hero to single combat, and is met by the greater *Aias (1), who has rather the better of the encounter; they part with an exchange of gifts.