Ghost of Achilles Demands Polyxena

Catalogue ID: 04-trojan-cycle/178-achilles-ghost-demands-polyxena

Cycle: Trojan — Cyclic *Nostoi* / *Iliou Persis* aftermath / Euripidean

Version line: Cyclic / Euripidean — Achilles’ shade requires Polyxena’s sacrifice

Sources: Euripides, *Hecuba* 35–44, 107–152, 218–443, 518–582; Apollodorus, *Epitome* 5.23; Proclus, *Iliou Persis* (Polyxena sacrifice notice); cf. Sophocles *Polyxena* frr.

Source file: /workspace/greek-myth-catalogue/04-trojan-cycle/178-achilles-ghost-demands-polyxena.md

Characters

Ajax — demands Polyxena
Hecuba — mother; mourner
Polyxena — Trojan princess; sacrificial victim
Pyrrhus — sacrificer in Euripides
Thyestes — decide to comply

Places

Assembly — fallen city behind the captives
Ships — held until the demand is met
Tomb of Achilles in the Troad — site of apparition and sacrifice

Themes

Narrative

As the Greeks prepare to sail from Troy, the shade of Achilles appears above his tomb (or holds the fleet with adverse winds) and demands his share of honor: the sacrifice of Polyxena, Priam’s daughter, on his grave. Odysseus or the army yields; Neoptolemus (in Euripides) cuts her throat over the tumulus. Hecuba and the captive women mourn; Polyxena goes willingly in tragic dignity. The ghost’s claim binds the living fleet to the dead hero’s *geras*—distinct from the mere listing of Polyxena among the spoils. Catalogue the demand-and-apparition as its own node between sack and departure.