Astyanax

Astyanax ( Greek: Ἀστυάναξ: " Prince of the City" ), nickname Skamandrios, according to Homer was the son of the Trojan king's son Hector and his wife Andromache.

In Homer's Iliad (VI 402 ff ) the touching farewell is described by his parents before his father goes to battle with Achilles and is killed by this. The little Astyanax is killed even after the conquest of Troy, to prevent that he later avenged his father's death. As he dies, varies depending on the version of the story: Either he is on the counsel of Odysseus killed ( so the Iliupersis ), or Neoptolemus, son of Achilles and Deidamia, Astyanax comes from the walls of the burning Troy ( so Pausanias X 25, 9). Ovid, however, reported only that he was thrown down from the tower of the city. (See Ovid, Metamorphoses XIII 415)

In still later versions of the legend Astyanax remains alive and founds a new Troy ( scholia to Iliad XXIV 735 ) or flees under the name Francus to Gaul.

Astyanax is also the title character of a poem in the cycle Mythistorima of Giorgos Seferis.