Admetus
heroKing of Pherae whose wife Alcestis volunteered to die in his place, making theirs the most extreme love story in myth.
The Myth
Apollo worked as his slave — and liked him so much he rigged fate itself to save him. When Admetus was fated to die young, Apollo got the Moirai drunk and extracted a concession: someone could die in his place. Only his wife Alcestis volunteered; his parents refused. After she died, Heracles arrived as a guest, learned what had happened, and wrestled Thanatos at her tomb to bring her back. Euripides's Alcestis is the earliest complete Greek play to survive. The story poses an unbearable question: is it moral to accept someone else's death for you, even if they offer freely?
Parents
Pheres, Periclymene
Symbols
Fun Fact
Euripides's Alcestis (438 BC) was performed in the slot usually reserved for a satyr play.
Explore Further
Alcestis
heroAlcestis was the devoted wife who volunteered to die in place of her husband Admetus — the only...
Heracles
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Apollo
godGod of light, music, poetry, and prophecy. Apollo embodied the Greek ideal of youthful masculine...
Apollo (Light)
godApollo was the most complex Olympian — god of light, music, poetry, prophecy, healing, plague, and...
Apollo Loxias
godAn epithet of Apollo meaning "the Oblique One," referring to the deliberately ambiguous nature of...
Hera
godQueen of the Olympian gods and goddess of marriage. Known for her jealous rages against Zeus's...
Hera Teleia
godAn epithet of Hera as goddess of marriage and its fulfilment, worshipped as the divine model of the...
Moira
conceptMoira was one's appointed portion in life — determined by the three Moirai who spun, measured, and...
Moirai
conceptThe three goddesses of fate who controlled the destiny of every mortal and god. Even Zeus himself...
Thanatos
conceptThe god and personification of peaceful death, twin brother of Hypnos (Sleep). Thanatos was not...
Ganymede (Abduction)
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