Hector

In Greek mythology, a Trojan prince and the second greatest fighter in the Trojan War after Achilles. Eldest son of Priam and Hecuba?, called "breaker of horses" though he never seems to do so.

Hector provides a stark contrast for Achilles, who is from first to last a man of war. Hector is fighting, not for personal glory, but in defense of his homeland. His words, "Fight for your country - that is the first and only omen" became a proverb to patriotic Greeks. Through him we see glimpses of what life might have been like in more peaceful times. The scene where he bids a final fairwell to his wife Andromache? and his infant son is one of the most moving in the Iliad.

Nonetheless, Hector's fate is never in doubt. Achilles, raging over the death of Patroclus?, kills him and drags his body thrice round the city of Troy. The final passage in the Iliad is his funeral, after which the doom of Troy is just a matter of time. In the final sacking his father and brothers are killed, his son is hurled from the walls in fear that it would avenge him, and his wife carried off by Neoptolemus?.