Alcestis

Not to be confused with Euripides’ tragedy Alcestis.

Alcestis was a princess of Iolcus in Greek mythology, renowned for the love she showed her husband. The daughter of King Pelias, she was the wife of Admetus of Pherae, and when the Fates allowed him to escape death if someone died in his place, she was the only one who agreed to do so. She was restored to life, either by the goddess below or by Heracles. Her story is best known from Euripides’ tragedy Alcestis.

Family of Alcestis

Alcestis was the daughter of Pelias, king of Iolcus in Thessaly, and of his wife Anaxibia, daughter of Bias; Apollodorus says that according to some Pelias’ wife was Phylomache, daughter of Amphion. Her brother was Acastus and her sisters Pisidice, Pelopia and Hippothoe (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.10; Hyginus, Fabulae 51). Homer calls her the most beautiful of the daughters of Pelias and the mother of Eumelus, who led the men of Pherae, Boebe, Glaphyrae and Iolcus to Troy in eleven ships (Iliad 2.711–715). In Euripides she also leaves behind young children when she dies (Euripides, Alcestis 288, 371–379).

Admetus and the Yoked Beasts

Many suitors asked for Alcestis in marriage. Pelias promised her to the man who could yoke a lion and a boar to a chariot, and Admetus, who ruled at Pherae, succeeded because Apollo, who was serving him as a thrall, yoked the animals for him (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.15; Hyginus, Fabulae 51).

Apollo was in Admetus’ service because Zeus had killed his son Asclepius with a thunderbolt, and the angry god had in turn killed the Cyclopes who made the thunderbolt. Zeus ordered him to serve a mortal for a year as a herdsman (Apollodorus, Library 3.10.4; Euripides, Alcestis 1–9). Admetus treated him well, and Apollo later repaid him with the favour that saved his life.

The Bargain with the Fates

At his wedding sacrifice Admetus forgot to honour Artemis, and when he opened the bridal chamber he found it full of coiled snakes. Apollo told him to appease the goddess and obtained from the Fates that, when Admetus was about to die, he would be released if someone chose to die in his place (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.15). Euripides says that Apollo saved Admetus from death by outwitting the Fates, and that the goddesses agreed that Admetus should escape Hades at once if he gave another dead person to the powers below (Euripides, Alcestis 11–14, 32–34).

The Death of Alcestis

When the day came, neither Admetus’ father nor his mother would die for him, although they were old, and in Euripides’ play only his wife was willing (Euripides, Alcestis 15–18; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.15). Alcestis washed her body in river water, dressed in fine clothes from the cedar chest, and prayed to Hestia before her hearth (Euripides, Alcestis 158–162). She asked Admetus not to give her children a stepmother who would be jealous of them, and he promised never to marry again (Alcestis 304–310, 371–374). In Euripides, Thanatos (Death) comes to the house to take her, and Apollo, who has left the house so that death does not pollute him, meets him outside and argues for Alcestis without success (Alcestis 22–76). Plato has Phaedrus single out Alcestis as the one who was willing to die for her husband when his parents were not, and says that the gods, admiring the deed, sent her soul back up from Hades (Plato, Symposium 179b–d).

Heracles and the Return of Alcestis

In Euripides, Heracles arrives at the house on his way to Thrace to fetch the horses of Diomedes for Eurystheus (Alcestis 66–67, 498–506). Admetus, out of respect for the guest, hides the fact that his wife is dead and takes him in, and a servant complains that the guest drank and sang, wreathed with myrtle, while the house was in mourning (Alcestis 551–566, 747–760). When Heracles learned the truth, he went to the tomb to wait for Death, intending to seize him and not let go until he gave up the woman, or, if that failed, to go down to the house of Persephone and Hades and ask for her (Alcestis 837–860). He did fight Death at the tomb, seizing him from ambush (Alcestis 1140–1142), and returned with a veiled woman whom he asked Admetus to keep for him. Admetus reluctantly took her hand, and Heracles lifted the veil (Alcestis 1006–1124, 1139–1142). Alcestis could not speak, because she had to be purified before the gods below, and Heracles told Admetus that she would regain her voice on the third day (Alcestis 1143–1146).

The play is the earliest full version, but it was not the only one. Apollodorus says that Persephone sent Alcestis up again, “or, as some say, Heracles fought with Hades and brought her up” (Library 1.9.15), and Hyginus says that Heracles brought her back from the dead (Fabulae 51).

Alcestis Sources

The main sources are Euripides, Alcestis; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.10, 1.9.15 and 3.10.4; Homer, Iliad 2.711–715; Plato, Symposium 179b–d; and Hyginus, Fabulae 51.

See Also: Admetus, Apollo, Heracles, Artemis, Pelias, Persephone