Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

When Hermes has seen Priam clear of the camp and the wagon reaches Troy, Cassandra first spies her father and the herald with the body on the bier-carriage; her cry brings the city out. They would swarm the corpse at the gates; Priam orders them back so the mule-team can enter. In the house the body is laid on a corded bed; singers lead the thrênos, and the women groan in answer. Andromache begins the formal laments; then Hecuba takes her turn. Hecuba’s bier-speech is brief and pointed beside Andromache’s orphan-prophecy and Helen’s recollection of kindness. She addresses Hector as the dearest of all her sons to her heart and to the gods: while he lived, they loved him, and even in death they have cared for him—for Achilles dragged him about the tomb of his comrade, yet could not spoil the body; fresh he lies in the palace, like one whom Apollo of the silver bow has approached and slain with gentle arrows. The mother’s consolation is theological: divine favor proved by the corpse’s intact beauty after days of outrage. After Helen’s speech they mourn until dawn; then the funeral wood is gathered, the body burned on the tenth day, and the barrow heaped—closing the *Iliad* on Hecuba’s and the city’s completed rite.