Hecuba Transformed into a Dog

Catalogue ID: 04-trojan-cycle/084-hecuba-dog-metamorphosis

Cycle: Trojan — Sack aftermath / Hecuba end

Version line: Euripidean prophecy + Ovid-labeled metamorphosis / Cynossema aetiology

Sources: Euripides, *Hecuba* 1259–1273 (Polymestor’s prophecy); Ovid, *Metamorphoses* 13.429–575 (**Roman** full dog-metamorphosis); Apollodorus, *Epitome* 5.23–24; cf. Quintus of Smyrna and handbook notices of Cynossema

Source file: /workspace/greek-myth-catalogue/04-trojan-cycle/084-hecuba-dog-metamorphosis.md

Characters

Cadmus — prophet of her canine fate; her earlier victim
Hecuba — Trojan queen; blinds Polymestor; becomes a dog; eponym of Cynossema
Odysseus — lead her toward the ships
Sailors — later readers of the Dog’s Monument

Places

Achaean ships — destination of the captive train
Cynossema — “Dog’s Monument”; navigational landmark
Sea-shore — scene of transformation and tomb

Themes

Narrative

After Hecuba blinds Polymestor for the murder of Polydorus (066), the Thracian king prophesies her fate: she will climb the ship’s mast as a dog with fiery eyes, become a bitch, and her tomb will be a sign for sailors—Cynossema, the “Dog’s Monument.” Euripides leaves the transformation as prophecy spoken over the living queen. Apollodorus and later narrative complete it: as the captive women are led away, Hecuba is changed into a dog (in anger, leaping at the Greeks, or by divine act after further grief); she dies on the Hellespontine / Thracian shore, and the place takes the name Cynossema. Ovid (**Roman**) elaborates the pathos: after Polymestor’s punishment Hecuba howls, runs at stones, and her jaws harden into a bark; the place of her tomb keeps the dog’s name. Greek tragedy supplies the oracle; Roman epic supplies the continuous metamorphosis—both transmit the same aetiology. The queen who outlived Troy, Polyxena, and Polydorus ends as a canine omen on the coast where guest-friendship was once betrayed for gold.