Hermione’s Family Tree

About Hermione →

Family

• Helen of Troy(parent),Menelaus(parent)— Marriage

  Menelaus and Helen of Troy's daughter Hermione was contested between Neoptolemus and Orestes, ultimately marrying Orestes after Neoptolemus's death at Delphi.

• Orestes(spouse),Tisamenus(child)— Marriage

  Orestes married Hermione, daughter of Menelaus and Helen, after Neoptolemus's death. Their son Tisamenus ruled Sparta and the Argolid until the Heracleidae drove him into Achaea.

• Neoptolemus(spouse)— Marriage

  Menelaus promised Hermione to Neoptolemus during the Trojan War as a reward for his service. Neoptolemus took Hermione as his wife after Troy's fall, but their marriage was barren and unhappy.

Enemy of

• Andromache

  In Euripides' Andromache, Hermione bitterly persecuted Andromache, Neoptolemus's captive concubine and former wife of Hector. Hermione blamed Andromache's sorcery for her own childlessness and plotted to kill her and her son Molossus.

• Peleus

  In Euripides' Andromache, Peleus confronted Hermione and Menelaus when they plotted to kill Andromache and her son Molossus. The aged hero intervened to protect his great-grandson's captive concubine from Hermione's jealous scheming.

Associated with

• Menelaus

  Menelaus promised his daughter Hermione to Neoptolemus at Troy, contradicting an earlier betrothal to Orestes arranged by Tyndareus. This conflicting promise created the rivalry between Neoptolemus and Orestes over Hermione.

• Neoptolemus

  Neoptolemus was killed at Delphi, freeing Hermione to marry Orestes. In some accounts, Orestes himself engineered the killing; in others, Neoptolemus was slain by the priests of Apollo for desecrating the temple.

• Orestes

  In Euripides's Andromache, Orestes arrived at Neoptolemus's court and rescued Hermione from her desperation, then spirited her away and arranged Neoptolemus's death at Delphi to claim her as his wife.