#hecabe

Helen & Hermione

Penelope & Telemachus

Hecabe & Cassandra (cause she’s the only one of Priam’s kids I have a design for)

Clytemnestra & Electra

Hecabe With The Corpses Of Her Children Polyxena And Polydoros At The Tomb Of Achilles (1809) Karl Russ

"Would you like a true gift, Helenus?" Apollo asked me as though he had read my mind, and perhaps he had. "Would you like to see the future? Not mere omens crouching in the intestines of a dying animal, but clear sight, true visions?"

"I could wish for nothing more, my lord."

"That's what I like to hear." Apollo drew closer, his hand slipping from my cheek to the back of my neck, holding me in place.

And then he kissed me, and all at once, a moment too late, I understood Cassandra's warning.

for @erostober day 9, admittedly a little late, using the prompts divine attention, gifts, and intercrural sex.

- Hecuba has no idea what to do with Cassandra. She has this child who is upset by something she cannot understand, and therefore absolutely cannot fix. She just wants to make everything better, but she can’t, and other responsibilities call

- Cassandra wants to go back. Back to when she was this little girl in her mother’s arms, before this curse separated them. She would give her eyes to spend a night in her mothers arms

- Hecuba needs to be useful. Her children are grown. They don’t need her. Her country is her child now

- Cassandra needs her mother. Needs to be held, needs to be looked after. She just doesn’t j know how to ask

- Hecuba misses Cassandra. Wants to hold her, looks after her, love her. She just doesn’t know how

I now have a definite timeline for the life of Paris (aka Alexander), prince of Troy: born 1231, died 1184 aged 46/47. I'll publish the full timeline separately, but wanted to bring up that I've been looking into his parents and siblings, trying to give each of them a few dates here and there.

Priam had many children. Relying on Homer, Apollodorus, Hyginus and Virgil, I've been able to identify 84 children: 16 daughters and 68 sons. I'll have to check again, as I might have missed a couple. He had two wives (Arisbe and Hecabe), and a number of "palace women" (i.e. concubines). By Arisbe, he had at least one son, and soon enough divorced her to marry Hecabe (or Hecuba), the well known queen of Troy. Hector was their first born and Troilus was the last born son. He was still a young teenager when he was ambushed and killed by Achilles (an event that I date to 1191, quite early in the Second Trojan War). As a result, I place his birth in 1205. Apollodorus tells us Paris was their second born. Hyginus says Paris was born much later, but I choose to reject the latter claim, as I consider Apollodorus more authoritative and it agrees better with my timeline.

Indeed, if Paris is the second born, I would place Hector's birth to 1233, which means Hecabe has been birthing children for at least 28 years (!!). If Paris is one of the later children, that birthing period is much longer. If Hecabe gave birth to her first child in her late teens, she would have given birth to Troilus in her mid-forties, which works nicely.

I have therefore set Hecabe's birth to 1251, which makes her 66/67 at the fall of Troy. Priam's birth is more tricky, because he was a boy when the First Trojan War occured, which I have not dated yet (it ties in with the timeline of Heracles and either his capturing of the girdle of the Amazons or his participation in the expedition of the Argo), but I expect Priam to be born around 1270/1265.