Book 6 is the PIVOT of the entire Iliad. We've seen five books of warfare, death, and masculine honour. Now Homer takes us INSIDE Troy's walls to show us what war COSTS. This is the book that makes Hector human—and makes his eventual death in Book 22 absolutely devastating.
The Contrast
Book 6 juxtaposes WAR (battlefield) with HOME (domestic life). We see Diomedes and Glaucus meeting as potential enemies who become guest-friends. Then we see Hector with his wife and baby son. Homer is showing you what's at stake: not just honour and glory, but FAMILIES, LOVE, and NORMAL LIFE.
What Book 6 Establishes
Hector as tragic hero: He knows Troy will fall but fights anyway—duty over survival
Andromache as war's victim: She's already lost her entire family to Achilles—Hector is all she has left
The human cost of war: Every warrior is someone's husband, father, son
Paris as shirker: While Hector fights, Paris stays home with Helen—Hector has to fetch him like a child
"I know this well in my heart and in my soul: the day will come when sacred Ilium will be destroyed, and Priam, and the people of Priam of the good ash spear."
— Hector to Andromache, lines 447-449
Hector KNOWS Troy will fall. He says it out loud. And yet he goes back to fight anyway. That's what makes him a hero—not that he's invincible, but that he fights DESPITE knowing he'll lose.
Book 6's Place in the Epic
After five books of non-stop warfare, Homer gives us a PAUSE. Book 6 is structurally positioned to make us CARE about the characters before the slaughter intensifies. By showing us Hector as a husband and father, Homer ensures we'll feel his death when it comes.
Connections Across the Epic
Book 3: Helen weaving war scenes; Book 6: Andromache weaving domestic scenes—women's work continues while men die
Book 22: Andromache weaving when she hears Hector is dead—this scene SETS UP that devastating moment
Book 24: Priam goes to Achilles as a father—we've SEEN Hector as a father in Book 6, so we understand what Priam has lost
Book 6 Structure
Book 6 has THREE distinct movements: battlefield (Diomedes continues his aristeia), transition (Hector leaves battlefield for city), and domestic (Hector in Troy with family and Paris).
SCENE 1
Battle Continues
Lines 1-118
More fighting. Diomedes meets Glaucus on the battlefield—they discover their grandfathers were guest-friends, so they DON'T fight. Exchange armour instead.
SCENE 2
Hector Enters Troy
Lines 237-311
Hector goes to Troy to tell the women to pray to Athene. Meets his mother Hecuba, rejects wine, instructs women to make offerings.
SCENE 3
Hector and Paris
Lines 312-368
Hector finds Paris at home with Helen, polishing his armour. Hector shames him into returning to battle. Helen wishes she'd married someone worthier.
SCENE 4
Hector and Andromache
Lines 369-502
The HEART of Book 6. Hector meets his wife and baby son. They discuss war, fate, and family. Baby Astyanax cries at Hector's helmet. Hector returns to battle knowing he'll die.
The Movement: War → Home → War
Notice the structure: we START on the battlefield (war), move INTO Troy (home/domestic), then return TO the battlefield (war). Homer is showing us what warriors LEAVE BEHIND when they fight. The domestic scene is literally SURROUNDED by war.
Diomedes Meets Glaucus: When Enemies Become Friends
In the middle of battle, Diomedes (Greek) and Glaucus (Trojan ally from Lycia) meet as opponents. Diomedes asks "Who are you?" because he wants to make sure Glaucus ISN'T a god (he learned THAT lesson in Book 5 when Aphrodite and Apollo attacked him). Glaucus's response is one of the most famous passages in the Iliad.
"Great-hearted son of Tydeus, why do you ask about my ancestry? The generations of men are like the leaves of the forest. The wind scatters the old leaves on the ground, but the living tree burgeons and puts out new ones when the spring comes round. So it is with men: one generation grows while another dies."
— Glaucus, lines 145-149
The Leaves Simile
"generations of men are like leaves": Mortality and transience—we're all temporary
"wind scatters the old leaves": Death is natural, inevitable, impersonal
"living tree burgeons": Life continues despite individual deaths
"one generation grows while another dies": The cycle is eternal—we're just part of a pattern
💡 Why This Matters
Glaucus is essentially saying: "Why does my name matter? We're all going to die anyway." This is a MOMENT OF PERSPECTIVE in the middle of a war about honour and glory. Glaucus sees the bigger picture—individual identity means nothing in the face of mortality.
The Discovery of Xenia
Despite his philosophical opening, Glaucus DOES tell his lineage—and Diomedes recognises the name. Glaucus's grandfather (Bellerophon) was hosted by Diomedes's grandfather (Oeneus). They were GUEST-FRIENDS.
"So you are my hereditary guest-friend! My grandfather Oeneus once entertained the noble Bellerophon in his house for twenty days, and they exchanged beautiful gifts... Let us avoid each other's spears, even in the thick of battle... Let us exchange armour, so that everyone may know we are hereditary guest-friends."
— Diomedes, lines 215-231
What This Scene Demonstrates
Xenia (guest-friendship) is MORE IMPORTANT than war alliances
Family obligations transcend personal conflict
Even enemies can find common ground in shared values
The heroic code has RULES that warriors honour
The Armour Exchange
They exchange armour as a sign of guest-friendship. But Homer adds a detail: "Zeus took away Glaucus's wits, for he exchanged gold armour for bronze, the worth of a hundred oxen for the worth of nine" (lines 234-236). Glaucus gets MASSIVELY ripped off in this exchange—but he does it anyway because xenia matters more than material value.
💡 Contrast with Paris
Remember Book 3? Paris VIOLATED xenia by stealing Helen while being Menelaus's guest. Here, Diomedes and Glaucus HONOUR xenia even in the middle of war. This is the heroic code working properly—Paris is the exception, not the rule.
Inside Troy: Hector's Mission
Hector leaves the battlefield and enters Troy to instruct the women to pray to Athene (hoping she'll stop Diomedes's rampage). This is the first time we've been INSIDE Troy's walls since Book 3. Homer is shifting from the masculine world of battle to the domestic world of home.
"Mother, gather the older women together and go to the temple of Athene... Take the largest and most beautiful robe that you possess, the one you value most of all, and lay it on the knees of lovely-haired Athene. And promise her that you will sacrifice in her temple twelve yearling heifers that have never felt the goad, if she will take pity on Troy."
— Hector to Hecuba, lines 269-278
Notice: Hector's asking for DIVINE MERCY, not victory. He knows how desperate things are. His mother offers him wine to strengthen him, but Hector REFUSES—he won't make libations to Zeus with blood-stained hands. This shows his piety and honour.
Finding Paris: The Shirker at Home
After instructing his mother, Hector goes to find Paris. Where is Paris? At HOME with Helen, polishing his beautiful armour. While men die on the battlefield, Paris is playing dress-up.
"He found Paris in his bedroom, busy with his splendid armour, handling his curved bow and his fine shield and breastplate. Argive Helen was sitting there with her maids, directing their exquisite work."
— Lines 321-324
What This Scene Shows
Paris is in his BEDROOM while battle rages
He's handling his armour but NOT WEARING IT (aesthetic not functional)
Helen is doing WOMEN'S WORK (weaving) while Paris avoids MEN'S WORK (fighting)
The contrast with Hector (who comes straight from battle, blood-stained) is STARK
"Paris, this is no time to be nursing your resentment, strange man that you are. The army is dying out there, fighting round the city, and it's all on your account that war and the cry of battle have flared up round the town. You would be the first to quarrel with anyone else you saw hanging back from this hateful war."
— Hector to Paris, lines 326-331
Hector's Accusation
"nursing your resentment": Paris is SULKING like a child
"strange man": You're WEIRD, abnormal for a warrior
"the army is dying": Real consequences while you hide
"it's all on your account": This war exists because of YOU
"You would be the first to quarrel": You're a HYPOCRITE—quick to criticise others but won't fight yourself
Paris's Weak Defence
"Hector, you are right to accuse me, and I cannot quarrel with that. But let me tell you something, and please take it to heart. It is not so much from resentment or anger at the Trojans that I have been sitting in my room. What I wanted was to give myself up to my grief."
— Paris, lines 333-336
Paris claims he wasn't sulking—he was GRIEVING. But grieving WHAT? His lost honour after being humiliated by Menelaus in Book 3? His excuse is pathetic. Real warriors don't hide when they're sad.
What Paris Says
"You are right to accuse me" = admits fault without apologising
"Not from resentment or anger" = denies being petulant
"Give myself up to my grief" = claims emotional depth he doesn't have
"Helen was urging me to fight" = makes it sound like he needs a WOMAN to motivate him
What This Reveals
He takes NO real responsibility
He needs OTHERS to push him to fight
He frames cowardice as sensitivity
He's more concerned with his feelings than his duty
"Wait for me now and I will catch you up. In fact I think I shall overtake you."
— Paris, lines 340-341
Even when promising to return to battle, Paris makes it about OVERTAKING Hector—he has to turn it into a competition where he looks good. He can't just say "I'll follow you." Hector doesn't even bother replying—just walks away in silence.
Helen's Self-Loathing
"Brother-in-law of a nightmare, a mischief-making bitch that I am! I wish that on the day my mother gave me birth a whirlwind had swept me off to some mountain or into the waves of the loud-resounding sea to be drowned before all this happened. But since the gods decreed these evils, I wish at least that I had been the wife of a better man, one sensitive to the outrage and the many taunts of his fellows."
— Helen to Hector, lines 344-350
Helen's Devastating Self-Description
"nightmare" and "mischief-making bitch" = she HATES herself
"I wish... a whirlwind had swept me off" = death would be better than this life
"since the gods decreed these evils" = she sees herself as victim of divine will
"I wish... I had been the wife of a better man" = she DESPISES Paris
"one sensitive to... taunts" = Paris doesn't even CARE that people mock him
💡 Helen's Tragedy
Helen is trapped with a man she despises, in a city that blames her for the war, separated from her daughter and homeland. She has NO agency—she can't leave Troy (where would she go?), she can't change Paris (he won't listen), and she can't undo the past. Her only power is self-loathing and bitter honesty about her situation.
Hector refuses Helen's offer to rest. He's going to find his wife while he still can. This is the last time he'll EVER be home.
The Meeting: Andromache on the Wall
Hector goes home to find his wife—but she's not there. She's run to the city walls in panic, having heard the Trojans are losing. The nurse brings their baby son Astyanax. This is the MOST FAMOUS SCENE in the Iliad—and for good reason.
"She came to him now, and with her went a maid carrying their innocent child in her bosom, a mere baby, the beloved son of Hector, beautiful as a star, whom Hector called Scamandrius, but others Astyanax, Lord of the City, since Hector alone was the saviour of Ilium."
— Lines 399-403
The Baby's Names
Scamandrius (Hector's choice): Named after the river Scamander—a TROJAN name, connecting him to the land
Astyanax (everyone else's choice): "Lord of the City"—because Hector protects Troy, his son is its future lord
"beautiful as a star": Precious, bright, innocent—everything war destroys
"Hector alone was the saviour of Ilium": The entire city depends on ONE MAN—unsustainable
Dramatic Irony
The audience KNOWS what happens to Astyanax: after Troy falls, the Greeks will throw him from the city walls to prevent him growing up to avenge his father. Homer calls him "Lord of the City" RIGHT before describing his death. This is BRUTAL foreshadowing.
Andromache's Plea: "You Are Everything to Me"
Andromache doesn't waste time on small talk. She BEGS Hector not to return to battle. And her reasons are DEVASTATING.
"Your own great strength will be your undoing. Have you no pity for your infant son or for your unhappy wife, who will soon be your widow? It will not be long before the Greeks kill you when they attack you all together. And when I lose you, it would be better for me to sink into the earth. I shall have no comfort left when you have met your doom—nothing but grief."
— Andromache, lines 407-413
Breaking Down Andromache's Plea
"Your own great strength will be your undoing" = your VIRTUE is what will kill you
"Have you no pity for your infant son" = think of the BABY who needs you
"your unhappy wife, who will soon be your widow" = I KNOW you're going to die
"better for me to sink into the earth" = your death is MY death too
"I shall have no comfort left" = you are EVERYTHING to me
"I have neither father nor lady mother now. My father was killed by the great Achilles when he sacked our lovely town, Thebe of the High Gates... As for my seven brothers, who were all at home, they all went down to Hades' House in one day. The swift-footed great Achilles killed them all... My mother... was brought here with the rest of the spoils. But Achilles released her... though Artemis the Archeress struck her down in her father's house."
— Andromache, lines 414-428
💡 Why This Matters
Andromache has ALREADY lost everyone: father, seven brothers, mother—ALL killed by Achilles or because of the war. Hector is literally the ONLY family she has left. When she says "you are father and lady mother to me, as well as my beloved husband," she means it LITERALLY. Losing Hector means losing EVERYTHING for a second time.
Her Tactical Suggestion
Andromache doesn't just plead emotionally—she offers TACTICAL ADVICE:
"Station your army by the fig tree": Specific location where the wall is weakest
"The enemy made three determined attempts there": She's analysed their attack patterns
Names the Greek leaders involved: She knows WHO is most dangerous
Andromache is INTELLIGENT and engaged with the war's strategy. She's not just a weeping wife—she's trying to save her husband with military analysis.
Hector's Response: Duty Over Love
Hector's response is one of the most moving speeches in ancient literature. He doesn't dismiss Andromache's concerns—he ACKNOWLEDGES them. But he can't do what she asks.
"All that, my dear, is surely my concern. But if I hid myself like a coward and stayed out of the battle, I could never face the Trojans and the Trojan ladies in their trailing gowns. Besides, it would go against the grain, for I have trained myself always to be brave and to fight in the front line, winning glory for my father and myself."
— Hector, lines 440-446
Hector's Reasoning
Social shame: "I could never face the Trojans"
Personal honour: "It would go against the grain"
Training and identity: "I have trained myself always to be brave"
Family duty: "Winning glory for my father and myself"
What He's Really Saying
I can't live as a coward even to stay alive
My identity IS being a warrior
I owe this to my father and city
Survival without honour is worse than death
"I know this well in my heart and in my soul: the day will come when sacred Ilium will be destroyed, and Priam, and the people of Priam of the good ash spear."
— Lines 447-449
THIS is the moment. Hector explicitly states he KNOWS Troy will fall. He's not fighting because he thinks they'll win. So why fight?
Hector's Tragedy
Hector fights for a LOST cause, not because he's deluded, but because NOT fighting would destroy who he is. This is pure tragic heroism: doing what you must even though you know it's futile.
What Hector Fears Most
"Yet it is not so much the thought of the Trojans' anguish that disturbs me, nor even of Hecuba herself or of King Priam, or of my brothers... No, it is your suffering that troubles me most, when one of the bronze-clad Greeks leads you off in tears and robs you of your freedom. I see you there in Argos, toiling for some other woman at the loom, or carrying water from a foreign well, a helpless drudge with no will of your own."
— Hector, lines 450-459
Hector's Vision of Andromache's Future
"bronze-clad Greeks leads you off in tears": She'll be a WAR PRIZE, like Briseis or Chryseis
"robs you of your freedom": From princess to SLAVE
"toiling for some other woman at the loom": Doing menial work for a Greek mistress
"carrying water from a foreign well": The lowest, hardest work—what slaves do
"no will of your own": Complete loss of agency and dignity
"'There goes the wife of Hector, the best man they had in Troy when the Trojans fought.' That is what they will say; and every time they do so, you will feel fresh anguish at the lack of a man like me to save you from a life of slavery."
— Lines 459-463
💡 The Cruelty of This Image
Hector imagines Andromache's slavery will be WORSE because people will remember she was married to "the best man in Troy." Her past happiness will make her present suffering MORE painful. Every time someone recognises her, she'll be reminded of what she lost. This is psychological torture on top of physical slavery.
"But may I be dead, may the earth have covered me over before I hear your cries as you are dragged away!"
— Line 464-465
Hector's final wish: to be DEAD before Andromache is enslaved. He'd rather die than witness her suffering. This is the most tender moment in the Iliad—and it's about DEATH being the preferable option.
The Most Human Moment in the Iliad
After this devastating conversation, Homer gives us a moment of pure domestic sweetness—then uses it to make everything even MORE tragic.
"With this he stretched out his arms to take his boy. But the child shrank back crying into the bosom of his nurse, frightened at the sight of his father, terrified by the bronze and the horsehair plume that he saw nodding menacingly from the top of his helmet."
— Lines 466-470
The Symbol
The baby doesn't recognise his father in armour. To Astyanax, Hector in his war-gear is a MONSTER, not a parent. The very tools that make Hector a hero make him alien to his own son. War transforms men into something their families don't recognise.
"His father and lady mother laughed aloud, and at once glorious Hector took the helmet off his head and laid it on the ground, shining as it was. Then he kissed his dear son and danced him in his arms."
— Lines 471-474
Why They Laugh
Brief normalcy: For one moment, they're just parents amused by their baby's reaction
Tension release: After such heavy conversation, laughter is relief
Human connection: Shared amusement creates intimacy in the shadow of death
The ordinary made precious: Everyday parenting moments become invaluable when you know they're ending
Hector removes the helmet. THIS is the crucial act: he puts aside his warrior identity to be a FATHER. The helmet on the ground = war temporarily set aside for family. But it's still THERE, waiting.
Hector's Prayer
"Zeus and you other gods, grant that this boy of mine may be, like me, pre-eminent in Troy; as strong and brave as I; a mighty ruler of Ilium. May people say, when he comes back from battle, 'Here is a better man than his father.' Let him kill his enemy and bring home the bloodstained armour, and give his mother joy."
— Lines 476-481
The Tragic Irony of This Prayer
"Grant that this boy may be... pre-eminent in Troy": Troy will be DESTROYED—there will be no Troy for him to rule
"as strong and brave as I": Hector will be DEAD before Astyanax grows up
"a mighty ruler of Ilium": Astyanax will be murdered as a child to prevent exactly this
"when he comes back from battle": He will NEVER fight a battle—he'll die before he can hold a sword
"Let him kill his enemy": His enemies will kill HIM instead
"give his mother joy": His mother will watch him die
💡 The Cruelty of Dramatic Irony
Homer's audience KNOWS what happens to Astyanax. Every line of this prayer is devastating because NONE of it will come true. Hector is praying for his son to have the life Hector is living—but neither of them will survive. This is Homer at his most brutal: giving us a father's hopes while showing us they're already doomed.
The Farewell
"With that he laid the child in his dear wife's arms; and she took him to her fragrant breast, laughing through her tears. Her husband was moved to pity at the sight. He stroked her with his hand and said: 'My dear, I beg you not to be too distressed. No one is going to send me down to Hades before my proper time. But Fate is a thing that no man born of woman, coward or hero, can escape. Go home now, and attend to your own work, the loom and the spindle, and see that the maidservants get on with theirs. War is men's business; and this war is the business of every man in Ilium, myself above all.'"
— Lines 482-493
"Laughing Through Her Tears"
This is one of the most famous phrases in the Iliad. Andromache holds her baby, laughing at the helmet moment but crying because she knows this is goodbye. The juxtaposition of laughter and tears captures the ENTIRETY of human experience: joy and sorrow inseparable.
What Hector Says
"Don't be too distressed" = I know you're right to worry
"No one will send me to Hades before my time" = trying to comfort her (but it's false)
"Fate... no man can escape" = actually admitting we're ALL doomed
"War is men's business" = invoking traditional gender roles to end the conversation
What He Means
I can't give you the reassurance you need
I'm going to die and we both know it
But I still have to go
I can't keep having this conversation or I won't be able to leave
"Glorious Hector picked up his helmet with its horsehair plume; and his wife went home, turning back again and again and letting the tears fall thick and fast."
— Lines 494-496
Hector picks up the helmet—puts his warrior identity back on. Andromache walks away "turning back again and again"—she can't stop looking, knowing this is the last time she'll see him alive. The repetition ("again and again") emphasises her desperate need to hold onto this moment.
⚠️ Remember for Book 22
This scene SETS UP Hector's death. When you read Book 22 and Andromache hears Hector is dead, remember THIS moment—the goodbye they already had, the baby who cried at his helmet, the prayer that will never be answered, the wife who couldn't stop turning back to look at him one more time.
Book 6's Final Movement
After the tender domestic scene, Homer returns us to WAR. Paris finally emerges from his house (with Helen's prodding), catches up to Hector, and they return to battle together. The book ends with them re-entering the fighting.
The Structure's Meaning
Book 6 moves from war → home → war. Homer SURROUNDS the domestic scene with violence to show what war destroys. The tenderness of Hector's family makes the battlefield MORE horrifying. We've seen what warriors have to lose—now when they die, we know they're leaving behind wives, children, homes.
Essay Connections: Book 6's Importance
Characterisation: Hector becomes fully human—not just a warrior but a husband, father, son
Themes: War vs domestic life; duty vs love; fate vs free will; masculine vs feminine spheres
Foreshadowing: Hector's death (Book 22), Astyanax's murder, Andromache's slavery, Troy's fall
Contrast: Hector (responsible, fighting) vs Paris (shirking, at home)
Women's perspectives: Andromache (loving wife), Helen (self-loathing), both trapped by war