Deianeira

Up to this moment, the great hero Heracles had helped the gods in their fight against the giants, he had fulfilled all the tasks Eurystheus had given him, he had joined for a while the team of the Argonauts, and he had took revenge of the king Laomedon and the king Augias.

After this, he was involved in some more hero tasks around the Peloponnese until one day he went to the court of the king Oineus. This king had a very beautiful daughter, Deianeira, and the hero immediately fall in love with her. After a big fight with the enemies of the river god Achelaos, which of course he won, he went to Thebes with the princess. On the way, a river with too much water stopped their trip. Next to the river lived the centaur Nessos, to whom Deianeira helped. But, in the middle of the river he was not able to resist her beauty and tried to get her, and then Heracles killed him with one of his arrows. However, before dying he gave her a cloth dipped with his blood and told her that if she rubbed Heracles underwear with this, he would never be unfaithful, and she innocently trusted him.

After some time, Heracles had an argument with Eurytos, the king of Euboa. He then destroyed the city, killed all the king’s sons and took Jole, the daughter of the king, as a prisoner. Deianeira was afraid to loose him, so she followed the centaur’s advice. When Heracles put on his underwear, he started to scream and ripped away his clothes, but it was already too late. He started having an amazingly big pain and his eldest son Hyllos took him home. When Deinaeira saw what she had done, she killed herself with a sword. Then they took Heracles to the mountain of Oita, where the oracle had foreseen his death. There they built a pile of wood from where the hero was taken by the Gods. Once in heaven, he married Hebe, Hera’s daughter, who gave him immortal children.