He is a major character in Homer's Iliad, where he leads the Trojans and their allies in the defense of Troy, killing countless Greek warriors.

He is ultimately killed in single combat by the Greek hero Achilles, who later drags his dead body around the city of Troy behind his chariot.

[6] Meanwhile, in the account attributed to the legendary Trojan priest and author Dares Phrygius, he is described as "... [speaking] with a slight lisp.

[7] Greek author and poet Homer portrayed Hector as "peace-loving, thoughtful, as well as bold, a good son, husband and father, and without darker motives.

He is the first-born son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, making him a prince of the royal house and heir to his father's throne.

Hector weds Andromache, who bore him a son, Scamandrius, whom the people of Troy know as Astyanax, and - according to some accounts - Laodamas.

When Hector kills Patroclus, Achilles—who had refused to fight because of a slight by Agamemnon—reenters the war to avenge his friend, and the Trojans are beaten back again.

Hector commanded the Trojan army, with a number of subordinates including Polydamas, and his brothers Deiphobus, Helenus and Paris.

By all accounts, Hector was the best warrior the Trojans and their allies could field, and his fighting prowess was admired by Greeks and his own people alike.

However, after Nestor's chiding, nine Greek heroes step up to the challenge and draw by lot to see who is to face Hector.

In the early dawn the next day, the Greeks take advantage of the truce to build a wall and ditch around the ships, while Zeus watches in the distance.

In the tenth year of the war, observing Paris avoiding combat with Menelaus, Hector scolds him with having brought trouble on his whole country and now refusing to fight.

Hector knows that Troy and the house of Priam are doomed to fall and that the gloomy fate of his wife and infant son will be to die or go into slavery in a foreign land.

The Trojans are driven off, night falls, and Hector resolves to take the camp and burn the ships the next day.

Eventually, Hector breaks Ajax's spear with his sword, forcing him to give ground, and he sets the ship afire.

[17] These events are all according to the will of the gods, who have decreed the fall of Troy, and therefore intend to tempt Achilles back into the war.

... death is now indeed exceedingly near at hand and there is no way out of it – for so Zeus and his son Apollo the far-darter have willed it, though heretofore they have been ever ready to protect me.

[19] The next day, the enraged Achilles renounces the wrath that kept him out of action and routs the Trojans, forcing them back to the city.

Hector dies, prophesying that Achilles' death will follow soon: Be careful now; for I might be made into the gods' curse upon you, on that day when Paris and Phoibos Apollo destroy you in the Skaian gates, for all your valor.

Priam himself goes to claim his son's body, and Hermes grants him safe passage by casting a charm that will make anyone who looks at him fall asleep.

Thus forced to kneel, thus groveling to embrace The scourge and ruin of my realm and race; Suppliant my children’s murderer to implore, And kiss those hands yet reeking with their gore!

[23] For example, Richmond Lattimore writes that Hector "is still the hero who forever captures the affection of the modern reader, far more strongly than his conqueror [Achilles] has ever done".

[25][26] Lattimore writes that Hector does not believe in Paris' cause but fights anyway out of a sense of duty and concern about the opinions of others: Some hidden weakness, not cowardice but perhaps the fear of being called a coward, prevents him from liquidating a war which he knows perfectly well is unjust.

[26]Emily Wilson describes Hector as bringing on his own death through his pursuit of martial glory, itself a result of his "dread of shame" and the demands of his social role as a warrior.

Instead of following his wife's practical advice to defend Troy from the city wall, Hector insists on fighting on the frontlines for the sake of glory.

From the perspective of Homeric culture, where morality and conformity to social norms are not distinguished, aidos is the "emotional foundation of virtue".

[25] Examples of this include his poor performance in duels with Ajax and Diomedes; his avoidance of Agamemnon; his victory over Patroclus only with the help of Apollo and another Trojan; and his flight in fear from Achilles before finally facing him.

[34] Lattimore writes that Homer's consistent efforts to reduce Hector's achievements result in one of the poet's "accidental triumphs", since they actually make the reader "sense deception, and feel that Hektor 'really was' greater than Patroklos or any other Achaian except Achilleus".

[24] Steven Farron agrees that the incongruence between Hector's achievements and reputation is a deliberate choice by the author but rejects the idea that it reflects a pro-Greek bias.

Farron states: The contradictions between Hector's domestic strengths and military weaknesses and between his reputation and achievements form a coherent, tragic character.