Hecuba

Euripides presents two Hecubas in his tragedy. One demonstrates a passive sufferer, who experiences grief and tragedy, but sill perpetuates a sense of stability. In contrast, there’s a vengeful Hecuba who loses her nobility and morality in her desire for revenge. The tradition of nomos becomes the link between the two presentations of Hecuba. Nomos envelops both of Hecuba’s conversations with Odysseus and Agamemnon. However, nomos succeeds in Odysseus’ speech, but fails to influence Agamemnon. The failure to keep nomos and the success of persuasion leads to her transformation and the activeness in her vengeance. The conversation with Odysseus establishes the importance of nomos. The sacrifice of Polyxena complies with nomos. Odysseus represents the majority opinion of the Greeks. In their debate, Odysseus tells Hecuba, “Accept your lot. And we – if we do wrong to honor courage, then we stand convicted of our ignorance. But you foreigners do not…pay respect to those who died in a moral cause.…

He is more human than Achilles. He fights for not only glory and pride as Achilles, he also fights for his family. He shows his love towards Hecuba in book VI when he says “But may I be dead/ and the earth heaped up above me/ before I hear you cry as you are dragged away” (6. 488-490). That was Hector’s response to Hecuba after she told him to stay away from battle. Hector wants to maintain his honor and the honor of his family. He knows how powerful Achilles is. Achilles has killed many of his…

Freedom and Slavery In Hecuba Stephen Daitz comes to the conclusion that in Euripedes’ “Hecuba”, the idea of becoming a slave allows the reader to see a distinct separation of values between mother and daughter. He makes the point that revenge and freedom are valued differently amongst generations. While Polyxena would rather die than become a slave, Hecuba is willing to be a slave for the rest of her life if she can achieve her revenge on Polymester despite being offered her freedom by…

Priam acts as a model for an ideal Virgilian ruler. Since Aeneas, who will act as the continuation of Troy’s legacy, witnesses Priam’s death Aeneas is able to recognize the traits of the great leader that he can then pass on to his son Ascanius who continues on the found Rome thus spreading those ideas throughout Rome’s legacy. In The Aeneid Priam’s death is one to be honored for his strength till the end and taken as the death of the city along with its ruler. The story of Priam’s death in…

Redemptive Revenge Most action is based on redemption or revenge, and that’s a formula. it’s how one get to the conclusion of that formula that makes it interesting. One of the greatest formulas found in ancient history was that of The Trojans and the Greeks. These two iconic cities clashed for the sole purpose of revenge when the Greeks ravaged the lands surrounding Troy. Through the entire story a secondary plot centered around Achilles interreges the readers. Agamemnon the king loses his…

Nothing is better than to read a story of great battles between two opposing forces, especially if there are from ancient Greece. Great Aeneas was such a selfless and geat warrior compared to Hector of the Trojans who fought to be a loyal defender of his city. This will show how Aeneas is shown to be similar but better then Hector in the way that Virgil made him a mirror image of Hector from the Iliad. Aeneas is a democratic and selfless leader to his people. He demonstrates this when he…

self from the war. Achilles removed his self from the war because of Agamemnon took Briseis, his war prize. Another struggle the Greeks endured due to Agamemnon malicious ways was the plague that overtook the camp. This plague was created by Apollo It was so harsh that it eliminated half of the Greek army. The plague attacked the Greek camp because Agamemnon would not grant Chryseis, who was a war prize back to her father. Thus resulting in her father, Chryses, praying to Apollo for the Greeks…

refusing orders from his commanding officer and even refusing to fight in the war due to his dislike of Agamemnon. No other solider would even argue an order given to them back in the time of the ancient Greeks. What this shows is that Achilles hubris is massive and compared to the rest of the Greeks he battles with in the Trojan war. The great amount of pride that Achilles holds gives him a presence of a god that can be argued with even though he is only a mortal man. This is different compared…

In Euripides’ Hecuba, violence attempts to justify itself by rewriting or ignoring reason. In the violent world of Hecuba, all fail to heed her version of logic. Hecuba’s rhetoric fails to persuade Odysseus to release her daughter from execution. Furthermore, she convinces Agamemnon to summon Polymestor not with her pleas but by bribing him with her daughter Cassandra, his concubine. Lastly, violence shows itself to trump reason as it corrupts Hecuba as she takes vengeance on Polymestor.…

During the Greek and Trojan War depicted in the Iliad the reader leans of the qualities of the many leaders. The Greeks lead by Agamemnon and the Trojans lead by Hector have been at war for nine years previous to the Iliad. There are many leaders in the Iliad that are great and there are some that are terrible. Great leaders are ones that have courage, the respect of their men and enemies, and are inspirational. Terrible leaders are cowardly and selfish when faced with great challenges. The best…