(), the only daughter of Menelaus and Helena, and
beautiful, like the golden Aphrodite. (Hom. Od. 4.14, Il. 3.175). As she was a grand-daughter of Leda, the mother of
Helena, Virgil (Aen. 3.328) calls her Ledaea. During the war against
Troy, Menelaus promised her in marriage to Neoptolemus (Pyrrhus); and after his return he
fulfilled his promise. (Od. 4.4, &c.) This Homeric tradition
differs from those of later writers. According to Euripides (Eur.
Andr. 891, &c.; comp. Pind. N. 7.43; Hyg. Fab. 123), Menelaus, previous to his expedition against Troy,
had promised Hermione to Orestes. After the return of Neoptolemus, Orestes informed him of
this, and claimed Hermione for himself; but Neoptolemus haughtily refused to give her up.
Orestes, in revenge, incited the Delphians against him, and Neoptolemus was slain. In the
meantime Orestes carried off IIermione from the house of Peleus, and she, in remembrance of
her former love for Orestes, followed him. She had also reason to fear the revenge of
Neoptolemus, for she had made an attempt to murder Andromache, whom Neoptolemus seemed to love
more than her, but had been prevented from committing the crime. According to others, Menelaus
betrothed her at Troy to Neoptolemus; but in the meantime her grandfather, Tyndareus, promised
her to Orestes, and actually gave her in marriage to him. Neoptolemus, on his return, took
possession of her by force, but was slain soon after either at Delphi or in his own home at
Phthia. (Verg. A. 3.327, 11.264; Sophocl. apud Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1479.) Hermione had no
children by Neoptolemus (Eur. Andr. 33; Paus. 1.11.1; Schol. ad Pind. Nem. 7.58), but by Orestes, whose
wife she ultimately became, she was the mother of Tisamenus. (Paus.
1.33.7, 2.18.5.) The Lacedaemonians dedicated a statue
of her, the work of Calamis, at Delphi. (Paus. 10.16.2.) A
scholiast on Pindar (Pind. N. 10.12) calls her the wife of
Diomedes, and Hesychius (s. v.) states that Hermione was a surname of
Persephone at Syracuse.