ANDROMACHE  , in

Greek legend, the daughter of Eetion, prince of Thebe in Mysia, and wife of Hector . Her father and seven brothers fell by the hands of Achilles when their town was taken by him; her mother, ransomed at a high price, was slain by Artemis (Iliad, vi . 414) . During the Trojan War her husband was slain by Achilles, and after the capture of the city her son Astyanax (or Scamandrius) was hurled from the battlements (Eurip . Troades, 720) . When the captives were allotted, Andromache fell to Neoptolemus (Pyrrhus), the son of Achilles, whom she accompanied to Epirus, and to whom she bore three sons . When Neoptolemus was slain at Delphi, he left his wife and kingdom to Helenus, the brother of Hector (Virgil, Aen. iii . 294) . After the death of her third husband, Andromache returned to Asia Minor with her youngest son Pergamus, who there founded a town named after himself . Andromache is one of the finest characters in Homer, distinguished by her affection for her husband and child, her misfortunes and the resignation withwhich she endures them . The death of Astyanax, and the farewell scene between Andromache and Hector (Iliad, vi . 323), were represented in ancient works of art, while Andromache herself is the subject of tragedies by Euripides and Racine .