Everything about Alcmene totally explained
In
Greek mythology,
Alcmene or
Alcmena (
Greek: Aλκμήνη) was the mother of Heracles.
Background
Alcmene was born to
Electryon, king of
Mycenae and a son of
Perseus. Her mother was either
Anaxo, daughter of
Alcaeus and
Astydamia,
Hesiod describes Alcmene as the tallest, most beautiful woman with wisdom surpassed by no person born of mortal parents. It is said that her face and dark eyes were as charming as
Aphrodite's, and that she honoured her husband like no woman before her.
Exile to Thebes
According to
Apollodorus, Alcmene went with
Amphitryon to
Thebes, where he was purified by
Creon for accidentally killing Electryon. Alcmene refused to marry Amphitryon until he'd avenged the death of her brothers. However, during Amphitryon's expedition against the
Taphians and
Teleboans,
Zeus visited Alcmene disguised as Amphitryon. Extending one night into three, Zeus slept with Alcmene (thereby conceiving
Heracles) and recounted Amphitryon's victories against the Teleboans. When Amphitryon finally returned to Thebes, Alcmene told him that he'd come the night before and slept with her; he learned from
Tiresias what Zeus had done.
Birth of Heracles
In
Homer's Iliad, when Alcmene was about to give birth to Heracles, Zeus announced to all the gods that on that day a child, descended from Zeus himself, would be born who would rule all those around him.
Hera, after requesting Zeus to swear an oath to that effect, descended from
Olympus to
Argos and made the wife of
Sthenelus (a son of Perseus) give birth to
Eurystheus after only seven months, while at the same time preventing Alcmene from delivering Heracles. This resulted in the fulfillment of Zeus's oath by Eurystheus rather than Heracles.
According to
Ovid's Metamorphoses, while in labour, Alcmene was having difficulty giving birth to such a large child. After seven days and nights in agony, Alcmene stretched out her arms and called upon
Lucina, the goddess of childbirth (the
Roman equivalent of
Eileithyia). However, while Lucina did go to Alcmene, she was instructed by
Juno (Hera) to stop the delivery. With her hands clasped and legs crossed, Lucina muttered charms, thereby preventing Alcmene from giving birth. Alcmene struggled in pain, cursed the heavens, and became close to death.
Galanthis, a maid of Alcmene who was nearby, observed Lucina's actions and quickly deduced Juno's plans. She announced that Alcmene had safely delivered her child, and this surprised Lucina so much that she immediately jumped up and unclenched her hands. As soon as Lucina leapt up, Alcmene was released from her spell and gave birth to Heracles. As punishment for deceiving Lucina, Galanthis was transformed into a
weasel; she continued to live with Alcmene.
In
Pausanias' recounting, Hera sent witches (as they were called by the Thebans) to hinder Alcmene's delivery of Heracles. The witches were successful in preventing the birth until
Historis, daughter of Tiresias, thought of a trick to deceive the witches. Like Galanthis, Historis announced that Alcmene had delivered her child; having been deceived, the witches went away, allowing Alcmene to give birth.
Death
After the death of Amphitryon, Alcmene married
Rhadamanthys, son of Zeus, and lived with him in exile at
Ocaleae in
Boeotia. It is said that after Heracles was
apotheosised, Hyllus, having pursued and killed Eurystheus, cut off Eurystheus' head and gave it to Alcmene, who gouged out the eyes with weaving pins. In
Metamorphoses, an aging Alcmene recounted the story of the birth of Heracles to
Iole. In the second account given by the Thebans, when Alcmene died, she was turned from human form to a stone.
Pausanias indicated that an altar to Alcmene had been build in the
Cynosarges in Athens, alongside altars to Heracles,
Hebe, and
Iolaus. Pausanias also said that Alcmene's tomb is located near the Olympieum at Megara.
[Further Information]
Get more info on 'Alcmene'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://alcmene.totallyexplained.com">Alcmene Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
