The Iliad 24.718–724

laid him on a corded bedstead, and by his side set singers, leaders of the dirge, who led the song of lamentation—they chanted the dirge, and thereat the women made lament. And amid these white-armed Andromache led the wailing, holding in her arms the while the head of man-slaying Hector:

ὣς ἔφαθʼ, οἳ δὲ διέστησαν καὶ εἶξαν ἀπήνῃ. οἳ δʼ ἐπεὶ εἰσάγαγον κλυτὰ δώματα, τὸν μὲν ἔπειτα τρητοῖς ἐν λεχέεσσι θέσαν, παρὰ δʼ εἷσαν ἀοιδοὺς θρήνων ἐξάρχους, οἵ τε στονόεσσαν ἀοιδὴν οἳ μὲν ἄρʼ ἐθρήνεον, ἐπὶ δὲ στενάχοντο γυναῖκες. τῇσιν δʼ Ἀνδρομάχη λευκώλενος ἦρχε γόοιο Ἕκτορος ἀνδροφόνοιο κάρη μετὰ χερσὶν ἔχουσα·

Lattimore commentary

The singers (male, as the Greek text makes clear) as professional lamenters lead the mourning ritual. The less formal lament by women is described in descending order of closeness (mother, wife, sister-in-law), but in ascending dramatic order, concluding with the woman whose fate started the war.

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