The Sacrifice of Polyxena
event · 2 works · 2 mentions · 4 anchored passages
Polyxena's death · Polyxena's sacrifice · her sacrifice at the tomb · her unhallowed sacrifice
in the texts
Hecuba
The central ritual killing of Polyxena at Achilles' tomb, decided by the Achaean assembly and carried out by Neoptolemus, forming the first major dramatic event of the window.
It is the Achaeans’ will to sacrifice your daughter Polyxena at the mound heaped over Achilles’ grave;
All Achaea’s army was gathered there in full array before the tomb to see your daughter sacrificed;
Was it duty that led them to slay a human victim at the tomb, where sacrifice of oxen is more fitting?
The Trojan Women
The killing of Polyxena as an offering at the tomb of Achilles, reported first obliquely by Talthybius and then directly by Andromache.
my child, for your unhallowed sacrifice!
Hecuba:
Andromache: