Editing Hector (section)

===Greatest warrior of Troy===
[[File:Hektor wirft Paris seine Weichlichkeit vor (Tischbein).jpg|thumb|250px|left|''Hector Admonishes Paris for His Softness and Exhorts Him to Go to War'' by [[Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein|J. H. W. Tischbein]] (1751–1828)]]

According to the ''[[Iliad]]'', Hector did not approve of war between the [[Greeks]] and the Trojans.

For ten years, the Achaeans besieged Troy and their allies in the east. Hector commanded the Trojan army, with a number of subordinates including [[Polydamas (Iliad)|Polydamas]], and his brothers [[Deiphobus]], [[Helenus]] and [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]]. By all accounts, Hector was the best warrior the Trojans and their allies could field, and his fighting prowess was admired by Greeks and his own people alike.

====Duel with Protesilaus====
In the ''[[Iliad]]'', Hector's exploits in the war prior to the events of the book are recapitulated. He had fought the Greek champion [[Protesilaus]] in single combat at the start of the war and killed him. A prophecy had stated that the first Greek to land on Trojan soil would die. Thus, Protesilaus, [[Ajax the Great|Ajax]], and [[Odysseus]] would not land. Finally, Odysseus threw his shield out and landed on that, and Protesilaus jumped next from his own ship. In the ensuing fight, Hector killed him, fulfilling the prophecy.

[[File:Ajax and Hector exchange gifts.jpg|250px|thumb|Ajax and Hector exchange gifts ([[woodcut]] in [[Andrea Alciato|Andreas Alciatus]], ''Emblematum libellus'', 1591).]]

====Duel with Ajax====
As described by Homer in the ''Iliad''<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' 7.43–305.</ref> at the advice of Hector's brother [[Helenus]] (who also is divinely inspired) and being told by him that he is not destined to die yet, Hector manages to get both armies seated and challenges any one of the Greek warriors to [[single combat]]. The [[Argives]] are initially reluctant to accept the challenge. However, after [[Nestor (mythology)|Nestor]]'s chiding, nine Greek [[hero]]es step up to the challenge and draw by lot to see who is to face Hector. [[Ajax the Great|Ajax]] wins. Hector is unable to pierce Ajax's famous shield, but Ajax crushes Hector's shield with a rock and stabs through his armor with a spear, drawing blood, upon which the god Apollo intervenes, and the duel is ended, as the sun is setting. Hector gives Ajax his sword, which Ajax later uses to kill himself. Ajax gives Hector his girdle that Achilles later attaches to his chariot to drag Hector's corpse around the walls of Troy.

The Greeks and the Trojans make a truce to bury the dead. In the early dawn the next day, the Greeks take advantage of the truce to build a wall and ditch around the ships, while Zeus watches in the distance.<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' 7.433ff.</ref>

====Duel with Achilles====
Another mention of Hector's exploits in the early years of war is given in the ''[[Iliad]]'' in book IX. During the embassy to [[Achilles]], Odysseus, [[Phoenix (son of Amyntor)|Phoenix]] and [[Ajax the Great|Ajax]] all try to persuade Achilles to rejoin the fight. In his response, Achilles points out that while Hector is terrorizing the Greek forces now, and that while he himself had fought in their front lines, Hector had 'no wish' to take his force far beyond the walls and out from the Skaian Gate and nearby oak tree. He then claims, 'There he stood up to me alone one day, and he barely escaped my onslaught.'
Another duel takes place, although Hector receives help from [[Aeneas]] (his cousin<ref>{{Cite web |last=Anderson |first=William Scovil |date=2 November 2023 |title=Aeneas &#124; Myth & Family |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Aeneas |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref>) and Deiphobus, when Hector rushes to try to save his brother Troilus from Achilles. He comes too late; Troilus has already perished. All Hector can do is to take the body, while Achilles escapes after he fights his way through the Trojan reinforcements.

[[File:Hector Astyanax MN Jatta.jpg|thumb|250px|Hector's last visit with his wife, [[Andromache]], and infant son [[Astyanax]], startled by his father's helmet ([[Apulian vase painting|Apulian red-figure vase]], 370–360 BC)]]

In the tenth year of the war, observing [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]] avoiding combat with [[Menelaus]], Hector scolds him with having brought trouble on his whole country and now refusing to fight. Paris therefore proposes [[single combat]] between himself and Menelaus, with [[Helen of Troy|Helen]] to go to the victor, ending the war.<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' Book 3.</ref> The duel, however, leads to inconclusive results due to intervention by [[Aphrodite]], who leads Paris off the field. After [[Pandarus]] wounds Menelaus with an arrow, the fight begins again.

The Greeks attack and drive the Trojans back. Hector must now go out to lead a counter-attack. According to Homer,<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' 6.390–480.</ref> his wife [[Andromache]], carrying in her arms her son [[Astyanax]], intercepts Hector at the gate, pleading with him not to go out for her sake as well as his son's. Hector knows that Troy and the house of Priam are doomed to fall and that the gloomy fate of his wife and infant son will be to die or go into slavery in a foreign land. With understanding, compassion, and tenderness, he explains that he cannot personally refuse to fight, and comforts her with the idea that no one can take him until it is his time to go. The gleaming bronze helmet frightens Astyanax and makes him cry.<ref>This Trojan helmet was made famous by Denys L. Page in ''History and the Homeric Iliad'', Chapter VI, "Some Mycenaean relics in the Iliad", as the Greeks do not wear bronze helmets in the poem's [[Oral-formulaic composition|epic formulae]], but they did in the Homeric Age; therefore, scholar Denys L. Page concludes (on other evidence as well) that the bronze helmet of Hector descends in oral poetry from [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] times.</ref> Hector takes it off, embraces his wife and son, and for his sake prays aloud to [[Zeus]] that his son might be chief after him, become more glorious in battle than he, to bring home the blood of his enemies, and make his mother proud. Once he leaves for battle, those in the house begin to mourn, as they know he would not return. Hector and Paris pass through the gate and rally the Trojans, raising havoc among the Greeks.