Regina Hecuba

Ah! The fury! The pain! The power of revenge! First I lose Polites and Polyxena, now Polydorus! How many more shall I lose? How much longer shall I suffer from the deaths of my precious children? My sorrows are like a torrent, they are an effusion of emotions. My tears are a stream of sadness. They surge with a vengeful, spiteful force; as if they have a mind of their own.

I sought revenge for my son. There was no purposeful cause to his death. He died because Polymestor was a greedy, malicious traitor. At the beginning of the war, he promised to protect and nurture my beloved son. He was a loyal friend until he heard of the Troy’s pillage and downfall by the Greeks. With the death of Priam, Troy was no more. This king, Polymestor, had an insatiable appetite for gold. He violently murdered Polydorus for the money left to him in our family fortune. He at the time, was one of our only remaining children to inherit the wealth. Polymestor desired power, which was associated with the attainment of sufficent amounts of wealth. When he was finished gruesomely slaying Polydorus, he used his blood soaked hands to fling him into the sea. Therefore, with out a proper burial, he will forever wait by the river of Acheron to be transported to the underworld by the ferryman Charon.

For the love and revenge of my son, I tricked Polymestor. I falsely promised I would give him more of his utmost rapture, gold. I met him in secret under the shades of an isolated tree on the shores of Thrace. As soon as he was within reach, I dug my nails into his eyes squeezing them flat, and ripping them out from the tendons. I left him screaming to Hades in pure agony. As I was watching his suffering with a spiteful glee, I suddenly felt my body ache and twist, quite uncontrollably. My muscles and bones seemed to be shrinking and stretching at the same time as I tossed about on the sand defenseless to the force that was taking over my body. My joints popped with the change of my body shape. Unexpectedly, in shock, I had been transformed into a dog! I was on all fours, as I still am today. Just as I was successful in tricking Polymestor, the gods and fates played with me as well. And this is my story of revenge, pain, and the life from the point of view of a bitch!

They killed my daughter Polyxena. She was a brave girl who did not give into the threats of slavery by the Thracians. She did not want to be a slave. She preferred to be sacrificed. Oh, she was so brave. She died nobly with pride for her country, Troas and now I am here as a slave of the Greeks, suffering with grief from the tortures of these men on this ship. They treat we Trojan women poorly. They are without remorse and unsympathetic to my suffering the experience of the sacrifice of my own daughter! 

She was a loyal, loving woman whom everyone in Troy admired. Her sweet personality should be a example for all women young and old throughout the world. Her charm made her a desirable item in the eyes of her many suitors. By control of the fates, she was destined to die by sacrifice before the ashes of her lover, Achilles. Through their relationship, she discovered his one vulnerability, his heel. This knowledge allowed Paris, my son, to come and shoot him in the heel. Though he was Polyxena’s lover, he was inevitably a Greek and therefore the enemy.

She died nobly since she died without ease, fighting until the end. Her horrifying shrieks ensured that Achilles would not have a peaceful death. She would not be an easy sacrifice. I am proud of her strong resolve, bravery, and commitment to her beliefs. She will stay in my heart forever. “Requiescat in pace” dear Polyxena.

Robert Bell writes of Hecuba’s encounter with Polymestor after the fall of Troy:

The body of Polydorus washed up on the shore of the plain of Troy near the tents of the captive women. Still a boy at the start of the war, Polydorus had been sent to his half-sister Iliona, who had married Polymestor, king of the Chersonese. Polymestor had received part of the Trojan treasury to be held in trust for Polydorus. When Polymestor saw the way things were going, he decided to appropriate the treasure for himself and killed Polydorus, throwing the body into the sea. Hecuba quickly sent a message to Polymestor, who was unaware of her discovery, telling him she knew where more treasure was hidden and that he should recover it for her son. When Polymestor arrived with his two sons, Hecuba’s companions murdered the boys while Hecuba tore out the eyes of Polymestor. (pg. 222)

One possible end, which Robert Bell calls “symbolic of her total descent” is that she was turned into a dog as she fled from Polymestor’s companions (pg. 222).

(http://ancienthistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=ancienthistory&cdn=education&tm=3&f=10&tt=14&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.stanford.edu/%7Eplomio/hecuba.html)

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“All of the girls were shuffled in and out of the Chorus of Corinthian Women and the Chorus of Trojan Women as if Corinthian and Trojan women possessed an interchangeable shrillness. I was quite taken by the dolorous girl Dan picked to play Hecuba;in addition to the sorrows of her role, she had to physically remain on the stage for the entirety of the Trojan Women.” (pg. 541)

A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving

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“Cheif among the captives was the old Queen, Hecuba, and her daughter-in-law, Hector’s wife Andromache. For Hecuba all was ended. Crouched on the ground, she saw the Greekd ships getting ready and watched the city burn. Tro is no longer, she told herself, and I– who am I? A slave men drive like cattle, An old woman that has no home.” (pg. 288)

Mythology, by Edith Hamilton

“Poor Hecuba, if anyone wants to see her, is here, lying in front of the door, weeping many tears for many reasons. Unknowest to her, her daughter Polyxena has been piteously killed at the tomb of Achilles; Priam and her sons are dead, and her daughter Cassandra, whom Lord Apollo left an untamed virgin, Agememnon, contrary to the god’s will and piety, will force to beomce his mistress.” (pg. 17-19)

Trodaes (The Trojan Women), by Euripides

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Now Boreas counsels to depart. The sails, moved by a prosperous breeze, resound and wave—the Trojan women cry,—“Farewell to Troy! Ah, we are hurried off! ” and, falling down, they kiss the soil, and leave the smoking roofs of their loved native land. The last to go on board the fleet was Hecuba, a sight most pitiful. She was found among the tombs of her lost sons. While she embraced each urn and fondly kissed their bones, Ulysses came with ruthless hands and bore her off, his prize she in her bosom took away the urn of Hector only, and upon his grave she left some white hair taken from her head, a meager gift, her white hair and her tears. (pg. 418)
Metamorphoses, by Ovid

(http://www.theoi.com/Text/OvidMetamorphoses13.html#2)

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“However he had a particular bent on mythology and carried his researches in it to such a ridiculous point that he would test professors of Greek literature- whose society, as I have already mentioned, he cultivated above all others- by asking them questions like: “Who was Hecuba’s mother?” “What name did Achilles assume when he was among the girls?” (pg. 146)
The Twelve Caesars, by Suetonius

Hecuba is present in Priam’s Palace when Pyrrhus, a Greek leader, kills both her son, Polites, and her husband, King Priam. She and her many daughters are decribed like doves in a black storm as they run to the altars. The altars was a place of refugee and possible security or safety amidst the killing and chaos. They are carrying penates (household gods) as another means of providing safety.
“Hic Hecuba et natae nequiquam altaria circum, praecipites atra ceu tempestate columbae, condensae et divum amplexae simulacra sedebant.” (2. 515-17)

Hecuba tries to convince Priam to put down his weapons and come to the altars for safety. She tries to tell him that not even Hector could save them now.

They have just taken Cassandra, my daughter, away from me. Here I am mourning the death of my daughters, sons, and husband, Priam:  

(From the play Trojan Women, by Euripedes- I am played by Katherine Hepburn)

(I don’t actually appear in this scene until approximately 3 minutes through the video) 

(Me at a recent party)

http://in.yimg.com/i/in/promos/oscar/redcarpet/Red-Judi-Dench.jpg

(Head Shot of myself)

http://www.aboutrufus.com/tr2_hecuba.jpg

(Me and Priam sharing a moment- during our earlier years)

http://www.stellanonline.com/helenoftroy14x.jpg

Hecuba Blinding Polymestor

Giuseppe Maria Crespi

http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/RM/ThHecubaPolymestorGMCrespi.jpg

(Hecuba is spralled onto Achilles, who is holding her daughter, Polyxena, who is about to be sacrificed)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Firenze.Loggia.Polyxena.JPG

Hector takes the armor from his parents Priam and Hecuba

(http://www.hellenica.de/Griechenland/Briefmarken/Mythologie/images/HectorArmor.jpg)

Oh miserable me, first I experience the death of my own beloved husband and children and now I am forced to be the slave of a man whose men killed my people! Odysseus is his name. He declared me his slave after Troy perished under the wrath of the Greeks. Are there no gods in the high heavens looking out for me? I am in need of mercy. Oh, this last fortnight I have faced the most unfortunate fate. I need a reprieve from these enraged Greeks. Odysseus has captured me as his undying slave. How can this be? A compassionate strong queen is to be a slave? My people and I have been cursed. The deceitful, merciless Greeks came to us hidden in the monstrous Trojan horse. Its belly was filled with vengeful men that came to destroy our nation.          

This ship to which I am bound is destined for Ithaca, Odysseus’s homeland. There he awaits a family and a loving wife. The conditions on this ship are dreadful and not fit for any woman of any class, yet a queen! It is so awful that I am forced to be tortured by the confinements of these waves. Along with the other women slaves on this ship, we have been dehumanized, starving as we only receive a mere stale slice of salted bread per day. There is water everywhere around us, but we can not drink any of it. The fresh water here is running low and we are rarely offered a cup. My throat is dry and hoarse. It currently burns like the fury in my heart and like the fires that consumed and took down the impenetrable walls of Troy.          

We must have been on this ship for too many sleepless nights. How can I sleep with the haunting thoughts of Priam’s blood, oozing down the altar steps!? His eyes, during those last few moments, held the greatest fear I have ever seen in a man.          

Does Odysseus not have any compassion for me and does he not understand the crime he has committed to my family? I miss them so: poor Polydorus, brave Polyxena, loyal Hector, and sweet Priam among others. I can hope only for my remaining sons to seek revenge on the Greeks. The next generations are the future of our race and therefore they must continue our bloodline by moving to another land and beginning again. Perhaps one man will have the loyalty and determination to bring peace to my people and give the Penates a new home.