Hector: Did you mean...?

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) was the leading French composer of Romantic music, best known for his innovative Symphonie fantastique and use of large-scale orchestras and choruses in works like The Trojans opera. Berlioz's innovative style brought...

Homer's Iliad describes the final year of the Trojan War, a legendary conflict between an alliance of Greek cities and the city of Troy in Anatolia. It was probably written in the 8th century BCE after a long oral tradition. The Greeks themselves...

A c. 1850 cartoon caricature by Anton Elfinge of the French composer Hector Berlioz (1803-1869). Berlioz used instruments and sounds innovatively in his work and this is here being parodied.

An 1832 portrait by Émile Signol of the French composer Hector Berlioz (1803-1869). ( Villa Medici, Rome)

A portrait by David Martin of Hector Munro (1726-1805), who led an East India Company army to victory at the important battle of Buxar in India in October 1764. (National Portrait Gallery, London)

An 1850 oil-on-canvas portrait by Gustave Courbet of the French composer Hector Berlioz (1803-1869). (Musée d'Orsay, Paris)

Hector and Andromache by Giovanni Maria Benzoni 1871 CE

The Trojan War was fought between Greeks and the defenders of the city of Troy in Anatolia sometime in the late Bronze Age. The story has grabbed the imagination for millennia but a conflict between Mycenaeans and Hittites may well have occurred...

A photograph of the French composer Hector Berlioz (1803-1869). Taken in 1863 by Pierre Petit. (Gallica Digital Library)

Oil, especially olive oil, was stored in specialized Greek pottery; lekythos (pleural, lekythoi). Many lekythoi were found inside tombs; they were used to anoint the dead bodies of single men. Mainly dull red and black paints were used by...