Hermione (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Hermione (in greek: Ἑρμιόνη) was the only daughter of Menelaus and Helen. She had three brothers. While her parents were away fighting (and being seduced, in Helen's case), Hermione was being raised by her aunt, Clytemnestra. Prior to the Trojan War, she was betrothed by Menelaus to Orestes, her cousin through Menelaus' brother, Agamemnon. However, on the battlefield during the Trojan War, her father also promised her to Neoptolemus, also known as Pyrrhus, son of Achilles. There is a historical dispute over whether or not such a discrepancy actually occurred, however. Some authors, such as Euripides, ["For you were mine to begin with, and you are married to Neoptolemus only by the baseness of your father. Before he attacked Troy, he gave you to me to be my wife, but later he promised you to your present husband as a reward if he sacked Troy." —Euripides, Andromache 969.] describe the dual promise, while others, such as Ovid, ["I was given to you by Tyndareus ... but my father ... had promised me to Aeacus' son ["i.e.", Neoptolemus] , not knowing this ... " —Ovid, Heroides 8.31.] do not mention it at all.

Regardless, at the end of the Trojan War, Neoptolemus claimed Hermione as his and took her back to Epirus, his homeland.

Shortly after settling into the domestic life, however, conflict arose between Hermione and Andromache, the concubine he had obtained as a prize after the sack of Troy. Hermione blamed Andromache for her inability to become pregnant, claiming that the concubine was casting spells on her to keep her barren. She asked her father to kill Andromache while Neoptolemus was away at war, but when he chose not to go through with the murder, Hermione fled from Epirus with her cousin Orestes.

Hermione and Orestes were married, and she gave birth to his heir Tisamenus. It is said she also bore a daughter, Hensibal, who reportedly died in infancy.

Hermione in Art and Literature

Ermione by Rossini

References