The center of the play is Hecuba the exiled queen of Troy and her sorrow at the death of her family and her city at the end of the Trojan War. In Euripides play the ladies of Troy are depicted after their city has been taken over their husbands have been killed and their remaining families have been sold into slavery. Athena and Poseidon two Greek gods are talking about how to punish the Greek soldiers for tolerating Ajax the Lessers rape of Cassandra as the story opens.Upon her arrival the widowed princess Andromache finds that her youngest daughter Polyxena had been killed by her mothers enemies.The Greek authorities are worried that the little kid would oneday exact revenge on his father Hector.