Deïaneira

Herakles , Deianeira and Nessos , Attic black-figure hydria by the painter from Vatican 309 , 575 - 550 BC Chr. Louvre (E 803)

Deïaneira ( Greek Δηιάνειρα Dēiáneira , German 'hostile to men' ) is one of the seven children of the Calydonian king Oineus and his wife Althaia in Greek mythology . Other sources say she was the daughter of Althaia and Dionysus . Out of gratitude, he gave the Oineus the first vine. Her siblings are Tydeus and Meleager . With her husband Heracles , she had a son named Hyllos .

Deïaneira's beauty was widely known, so many suitors came to Kalydon and courted her. Oineus decided that whichever one of them would win Deïaneira's hand who could hold his own in a duel. Heracles ' strongest opponent was the bull-headed river god Acheloos . But this was defeated by Heracles, who won it with it.

When they wanted to leave Kalydon, they had to cross the river Euenos, which was in high water . The centaur Nessos offered his help. When translating Deïaneira, however, he tried to kidnap her. Heracles overtook him with one of his arrows - smeared with the poison of the Hydra - and the dying Centaur advised Deïaneira to collect his blood, which was filled with love for her, as a means of securing Heracles' loyalty to her. Deïaneira believed him, but in reality his blood was poisoned by the arrow. Only after years did Deïaneira doubt her husband's loyalty and smeared his undergarment with Nessos blood (the proverbial Nessos shirt ). It could no longer be dismissed and caused Heracles excruciating pain. When Deïaneira found out about this unexpected turn of events, she took her life out of horror. Tormented by agony, Heracles was burned on a stake, with which in the end his oracle was also fulfilled: "No living person will ever conquer you. You will be killed by a dead person".

literature

Heinrich Wilhelm Stoll : Deïaneira 2 . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1,1, Leipzig 1886, Col. 976 f. ( Digitized version ).
Jakob Escher-Bürkli : Deïaneira 1. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der Classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume IV, 2, Stuttgart 1901, Col. 2378-2382 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Deïaneira - collection of images, videos and audio files

Gustav Schwab : Herakles and Deïanira in the Gutenberg-DE project

Individual evidence

↑ Diodorus 4, 34. ( Greek )
↑ ^a ^b Libraries of Apollodor 1, 8, 1. ( Greek and German )
↑ ^a ^b Libraries of Apollodor 2, 7, 7. ( Greek and German )
↑ Diodorus 4, 37.
↑ Libraries of Apollodor 2,7,6,4; Diodorus 4.36; Hyginus , Fabulae 34

[1] Diodorus 4, 34. ( Greek )

[Bibliotheke_1-2] Libraries of Apollodor 1, 8, 1. ( Greek and German )

[Bibliotheke_2-3] Libraries of Apollodor 2, 7, 7. ( Greek and German )

[4] Diodorus 4, 37.

[5] Libraries of Apollodor 2,7,6,4; Diodorus 4.36; Hyginus , Fabulae 34