Hector Prepares to Strike

CNG 88, Lot: 899. Estimate $1000. Sold for $3750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

TROAS, Ilium. Commodus. AD 177-192. Æ (36mm, 22.12 g, 7h). AV(TK)AI M AVPH KOMMOΔOC, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / EKTΩP above, IΛIEΩN in exergue, Hector, brandishing shield and spear, in biga left. RPC Online 120 var. (Hector right); cf. Bellinger T215 (Septimius Severus; for rev.). VF, dark brown patina with traces of olive overtones, ancient scratch on shield. Apparently unique.

From Group CEM. Ex Auctiones 7 (7 June 1977), lot 378.

For nine years in the Trojan War, the fortunes of both sides ebbed and flowed. During the tenth year, Achilles, upset over the loss of the woman Chryseis to Agamemnon, the commander of the Greeks, withdrew to his tent and refused to fight. The loss of the greatest of the Greek warriors allowed the Trojans under the command of Hector, the eldest son of Priam, to gain the upper hand. At that point, Patroclus then offered to put on Achilles’ armor in order to rouse the Greeks to fight. Thinking that Achilles had returned to battle, Hector dashed out on to the field of battle in his chariot (Hom. Il. 16. 367-369):

Ἕκτορα δ᾽ ἵπποι // ἔκφερον ὠκύποδες σὺν τεύχεσι, λεῖπε δὲ λαὸν // Τρωϊκόν, οὓς ἀέκοντας ὀρυκτὴ τάφρος ἔρυκε. ("But the swift-footed horses did carry forth Hektor with his equipage, and he left behind the Trojan host, whom unwilling the excavated trench held back.")

Hector killed the clearly ill-matched Patroclus, and, in order to avenge his friend, Achilles returned to the field to slay Hector.