Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

After Troy’s fall Andromache was allotted to Neoptolemus (Pyrrhus), son of Achilles. Euripides shows her years later at Phthia (or Thetideion), living as his concubine and mother of his son Molossus, while Neoptolemus has gone to Delphi. His Spartan wife Hermione, childless and jealous, plots with her father Menelaus to kill Andromache and the boy. Andromache takes refuge at Thetis’s shrine; Menelaus tricks her out with a threat against the child, then prepares a double execution. Peleus, Neoptolemus’s aged grandfather, arrives in time, cowes Menelaus, and frees the captives; Menelaus retreats to Sparta. Hermione, terrified of her husband’s return, is rescued from suicide by Orestes, who claims her as his betrothed (a prior promise of Tyndareus) and reveals that he has already arranged Neoptolemus’s death at Delphi—revenge for the slight and for Apollo’s unpaid quarrel over Achilles. A messenger reports Neoptolemus slain at Apollo’s altar by Delphians stirred by Orestes’ slander. Thetis appears: Andromache is to marry Helenus in Molossia and found a line; Peleus will become immortal and dwell with her in the sea; Neoptolemus is to be buried at Delphi. The play joins Trojan captivity, Spartan marriage politics, and the cursed house of Achilles.