In Greek mythology, the Androktasiai (Ancient Greek: Ἀνδροκτασίαι, "Manslaughters" or "Slayings of Men") are the personifications of the killing of men in battle. They are counted among the dark offspring of Eris, the goddess of strife, and belong to a cluster of war-related abstractions that also includes the Hysminai (Battles), the Machai (Wars), and the Phonoi (Murders). As allegorical figures rather than individuated deities, they embody one of the many destructive consequences that flow from discord.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Androktasiai" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family
The Androktasiai are named among the brood of Eris, the personification of strife. In the catalogue of Eris's children they appear alongside the Hysminai (Battles), the Machai (Wars), and the Phonoi (Murders), a group of abstractions all representing facets of conflict and bloodshed.
Like their siblings, they are personifications without distinct mythological biographies. They function as allegorical embodiments of an aspect of warfare rather than as characters with their own stories.
II.Role and meaning
The Androktasiai personify the slaughter of men in battle. They are counted among the harmful forces that arise from Eris, illustrating how strife gives rise to a chain of destructive outcomes that culminate in death on the battlefield.
Because they have no individual identity, the Androktasiai are typically encountered in lists of such war spirits, where they serve to dramatize the grim consequences of discord through personification.
III.Literary attestations
Hesiod's Theogony (line 228) lists them among the children of Eris in the formula "Hysminas te Machas te Phonous t' Androktasias te" (Battles, Wars, Murders, and Manslaughters). A comparable grouping of war-related figures appears in the Odyssey (11.612), in the description of Heracles' golden belt.
In the Hesiodic Shield of Heracles, within the long description of the shield (lines 144–319), the singular form Androktasia appears among battle imagery rendered on the shield, alongside such figures as Pursuit, Rally, Tumult, Murder, and Strife.