Troy's greatest warrior took off his helmet because it frightened his baby son
In one of the Iliad's most tender scenes, Hector says goodbye to his wife Andromache at the city gate. Their infant son bursts into tears at the sight of his father's gleaming bronze helmet, so Hector removes it, holds the boy and prays that he will one day surpass him. He knows Troy is doomed.
Hector was the eldest son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba and heir to Troy's throne. Through the ten-year siege he led the Trojan forces and their allies, respected by his own people and dreaded by the Greeks. Homer paints him as peace-loving and thoughtful as well as brave, a devoted son, husband and father who, according to the Iliad, did not even approve of the war. He rebukes his brother Paris for dodging the fight that Paris himself caused.
His name probably derives from the Greek verb meaning to hold, so it could signify holder or one who holds fast; it was also an epithet of Zeus as the god who holds everything together. The name is old: a servant called E-ko-to appears on a Mycenaean Linear B tablet. Some scholars, following Georg Ferdinand Dümmler and Moses Finley, suspect Hector began as a hero of Thebes, where he had a cult, and was later transplanted to the Anatolian coast along with the whole Troy story.
Several episodes show a code of honour. At the start of the war, prophecy said the first Greek ashore would die; Odysseus landed on his own thrown shield, and Protesilaus, jumping down next, became Hector's first great opponent. In a formal duel with Ajax that ended at sunset, neither man won, and they swapped gifts, Hector's sword for Ajax's belt. Both objects later reappear tragically in each man's fate. Later, Hector drove the Greeks back to their ships and set one on fire.
His downfall begins when he kills Patroclus, Achilles' closest companion, drawing Achilles back into the war. Tricked by the goddess Athena, who appears disguised as his brother Deiphobus, Hector stands to fight, first asking that the winner return the loser's body for burial. Achilles refuses, defeats him and dishonours his corpse, an offence to the gods. After twelve days, old Priam comes to Achilles himself to ransom his son's body.
Source: Hector
