Andromache

Daughter of Eetion of Cilician Thebe in the Homeric and later tradition, Andromache is introduced in the Trojan narrative as the devoted wife of Hector. In the Iliad she functions as exemplar of the domestic and mourning roles allocated to Trojan women: she loses husband and son amid the fall of Troy, is taken as spoil by the victors (concorded in later sources as concubine to Neoptolemus), and in some post-war accounts marries Hector's brother Helenus and becomes a queen in Epirus/Buthrotum. Variants in later authors record differing progeny and post-war settlements (e.g., Molossus, Pergamus in some traditions), reflecting divergent epic and local traditions.

Homeric epic focuses on Andromache's social role rather than a physical portrait; later or non-Homeric descriptive traditions (summarized from Malalas and Dares Phrygius) depict her as tall, fair, and attractive: "above average height, thin... blondish hair long in back... dimples on her cheeks" (Malalas summary) and "bright-eyed and fair, with a tall and beautiful body" (Dares). These physical descriptions are attached in the sources to moral attributes such as modesty, chastity, and wisdom.

Andromache possesses no supernatural powers in the cited literature; her 'abilities' are social and emotional: exemplary fidelity, steadfast mourning, leadership in formal lamentation, and sustained ritual devotion to the memory of her husband (e.g., offerings at Hector's cenotaph). She is portrayed as subject to violence and dispossession (the loss of her son Astyanax and being taken as concubine), not as a source of supernatural threat or action.