• General Notes

  The daughter of Dymas, wife of Priam, king of Troy, and mother of Paris
  and Hector. After the fall of Troy, she was taken captive by the Achaeans
  and enslaved.
  In various scenes depicting the Trojan war, she is portrayed on Greek
  vases as a beautiful young woman. A fresco in the Casa di Cecilio Iucundo
  at Pompeii shows a sad Hecuba looking down from a window on the
  procession that returns Hector's body to Troy.
  Hecuba was married to Priam, king of Troy.
  There is some dispute as to her parentage, some say her father was Dymas,
  king of Phrygia. Other say that her father was Cisseus, king of Thrace.
  Still others say that she was the daughter of the Sangarius River.
  According to Euripides, Hecuba bore Priam 50 children. Apollodorous
  lowers the number of offspring to 14 (Bell, 220).
  Her daughters were Creusa, Laodice, Polyxena, and Cassandra.
  Her sons were Hector, Paris (Alexander), Deiphobus, Helenus, Pammon,
  Polites, Antiphus, Hipponous, Polydorus, and Troilus.
  When she was with child, she dreamed "she gave birth to a firebrand that
  set the whole city on fire" (Bell, 220). Seers determined that the son
  would bring ruination to Troy.
  When the son, Paris, was born, he was exposed by the royal shepherd,
  Agelaus, on Mount Ida.
  Agelaus returned five days later, however, and found Paris still alive.
  The old shepherd took Paris in and raised the boy as if he were his own
  son.
  Some stories say that Priam and Hecuba kept Paris' birth a secret, and
  that Priam received news that a child born on that day would be the
  downfall of Troy. As a result, Priam ordered the execution of his sister,
  Cilla, and her son, Munippus, for Cilla gave birth to Munippus on the
  same day that Paris was born (Bell, 221).
  In the Troades, Hecuba compares herself to Cassandra. She blames the fall
  of Troy on Paris, and therefore states "by my torches you are burning."
  When Paris left Troy to find Helen, Hecuba and Cassandra both tried to
  convince him to stay. But, once Helen was inside Trojan walls, Hecuba,
  along with Priam, is said to have defended Helen,. Her defense of Helen,
  however, may have been the result of national pride instead of any
  personal feelings toward Helen.
  From the walls of Troy, Hecuba watched as the war raged on and many of
  her sons were killed.
  When the war was drawing to a close, Hecuba caught sight of Priam
  struggling into his armor. Hecuba persuaded Priam to stay with her and
  their daughters at the altar. Pyrrhus (Neoptolemus) slew both Polites and
  Priam in plain sight of Hecuba.
  In the Aeneid, Aeneas tells Dido of Priam and Hecuba's fates in the fall
  of Troy.
  There are different variations as to the death of Hecuba. Some say she
  was stoned to death by Greeks angry with her for killing Polymestor,
  others say that she jumped overboard off of Odysseus' ship. 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 (222

Details of HECUBA 's family with Hector Ben  Priam