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{{Short description|Princess in Greek mythology}}
{{Short description|Princess in Greek mythology}}
{{for multi|the play|Alcestis (play)|Latin poem|Alcestis Barcinonensis}}
{{for-multi|the play|Alcestis (play)|Latin poem|Alcestis Barcinonensis}}
[[File:Affreschi romani - pompei - alcesti e admeto.JPG|thumb|''Alcestis and [[Admetus]]'', ancient Roman fresco (45–79 CE) from the [[House of the Tragic Poet]], [[Pompeii]], [[Italy]] (photo by Stefano Bolognini).]]
[[File:Affreschi romani - pompei - alcesti e admeto.JPG|thumb|''Alcestis and [[Admetus]]'', ancient Roman fresco (45–79 CE) from the [[House of the Tragic Poet]], [[Pompeii]], [[Italy]] (photo by Stefano Bolognini).]]
'''Alcestis''' ({{IPAc-en|æ|l|ˈ|s|ɛ|s|t|ɪ|s}}; [[Ancient Greek]]: Ἄλκηστις, ''{{grc-transl|Ἄλκηστις}}'') or '''Alceste''', was a [[princess]] in [[Greek mythology]], known for her love of her [[Admetus|husband]]. Her life story was told by [[pseudo-Apollodorus]] in his ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'',<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D9%3Asection%3D15 1.9.15]</ref> and a version of her death and return from the dead was also popularized in [[Euripides]]'s tragedy ''[[Alcestis (play)|Alcestis]]''.
In Greek mythology, '''Alcestis''' ({{IPAc-en|æ|l|ˈ|s|ɛ|s|t|ɪ|s}}; [[Ancient Greek]]: Ἄλκηστις, ''{{grc-transl|Ἄλκηστις}}'') or '''Alceste''', was a [[princess]] of [[Iolcus]] known for her love of her [[Admetus|husband]]. Her life story was described by Pseudo-Apollodorus in his ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'',<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D9%3Asection%3D15 1.9.15]</ref> and a version of her death and return from the dead was also popularized by [[Euripides]]' tragedy ''[[Alcestis (play)|Alcestis]]''.


== Family ==
== Family ==
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== Mythology ==
== Mythology ==
[[File:Herbert thomas dicksee--hercules wrestling with death for the soul of alcestis--1884.jpg|thumb|[[Herbert Dicksee|Herbert Thomas Dicksee]], ''Hercules Wrestling with Death for the Soul of Alcestis'', 1884, private collection.]]Many suitors appeared before King [[Pelias]] and tried to woo Alcestis when she came of age to marry. It was declared by her father that she would marry the first man to yoke a lion and a boar (or a bear in some cases) to a [[chariot]]. [[Admetus|King Admetus]] was able to do this because he was helped by [[Apollo]], who had been banished from [[Olympus (mythology)|Olympus]] for one year to serve as a shepherd to Admetus. With Apollo's help, Admetus completed the challenge set by King Pelias, and was allowed to marry Alcestis. But in a sacrifice after the wedding, Admetus forgot to make the required offering to [[Artemis]], therefore when he opened the marriage chamber he found his bed full of coiled snakes.<ref>Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.9.15&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=1:chapter=9&highlight=Alcestis 1.9.15]</ref> Admetus interpreted it a portent of an early death.<ref>Roman, L., & Roman, M. (2010). {{Google books|tOgWfjNIxoMC|Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman mythology.|page=54}} </ref>
[[File:Herbert thomas dicksee--hercules wrestling with death for the soul of alcestis--1884.jpg|thumb|[[Herbert Dicksee|Herbert Thomas Dicksee]], ''Hercules Wrestling with Death for the Soul of Alcestis'', 1884, private collection.]]When Alcestis came of age to marry, many suitors presented themselves before King [[Pelias]] to compete for her hand. Pelias proposed an impossible task, and declared that she would marry the first man to yoke a lion and a boar (or a bear in some cases) to a [[chariot]]. King [[Admetus of Pherae|Admetus]] of [[Pherae]], was able to complete the task with the help of Apollo, who had been banished from [[Olympus (mythology)|Olympus]] for one year to serve as Admetus' [[shepherd]]. Alcestis and Admetus were married, but when making sacrifices after the wedding, Admetus forgot to make the required offering to [[Artemis]]; when he opened the marriage chamber, he found his bed full of coiled snakes.<ref>Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.9.15&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=1:chapter=9&highlight=Alcestis 1.9.15]</ref> Admetus interpreted the scene as a sign of his early death.<ref>Roman, L., & Roman, M. (2010). {{Google books|tOgWfjNIxoMC|Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman mythology.|page=54}}</ref>


Apollo again helped the newlywed king, this time by making the [[Moirai|Fates]] drunk, extracting from them a promise that if anyone would want to die instead of Admetus, they would allow it. And when the day of his death came near, no one volunteered, not even his elderly parents, but Alcestis came forward to die in place of her husband.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#243 243]</ref> As a token of his appreciation for Admetus' hospitality,<ref>Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.6.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=2:chapter=6&highlight=Alcestis 2.6.2]</ref> [[Heracles]] rescued Alcestis from the [[Greek underworld|underworld]], shortly after fighting with [[Thanatos]]. After Alcestis comes back and is united with her husband, she doesn't speak. Euripides, in his work "Alcestis", asks: "But why does she not speak?"
Apollo again helped the newlywed king, this time by making the [[Moirai|Fates]] drunk and tricking them into promising that if anyone was willing to die in Admetus' place, they would allow it. When the day of his death came near, no one volunteered, not even his elderly parents. Alcestis alone came forward to die in place of her husband.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#243 243]</ref> As a token of his appreciation for Admetus' hospitality,<ref>Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.6.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=2:chapter=6&highlight=Alcestis 2.6.2]</ref> [[Heracles]] rescued Alcestis from the [[Greek underworld|underworld]] shortly after fighting [[Thanatos]].  
 
After Heracles brings Alcestis back to the mortal realm and unites her with her husband, she is unable to speak. When Admetus questions this, Heracles informs him that she will be silent for three days until she is purified of her debt to the [[Chthonic deities|chthonic]] gods.<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[Alcestis (play)|Alcestis]]'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0088%3Acard%3D1118 1118]</ref>


== Cultural Reference ==
== Cultural Reference ==
Being an early Greek myth, the story of Alcestis can represent the cultural values in Greece at the time. It is known that myths hold cultural values as ways to teach lessons and highlight morals. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Culture, Religion, & Myth: Interdisciplinary Approaches |url=https://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/CoursePack/culture.htm |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=web.cocc.edu}}</ref> In the myth of Alcestis, somebody can interpret that she symbolizes women’s roles and expectations in Greece. Alcestis’ character also shows an integral trait cherished by the Greek and desired upon any gender.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Goldfarb |first=Barry E. |date=1992 |title=The Conflict of Obligations in Euripides’ Alcestis |url=https://grbs.library.duke.edu/index.php/grbs/article/view/3621/5687 |journal=Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies |language=en |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=109–126 |issn=2159-3159}}</ref>
Being an early Greek myth, the story of Alcestis can represent the cultural values in Greece at the time. It is known that myths hold cultural values as ways to teach lessons and highlight morals.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Culture, Religion, & Myth: Interdisciplinary Approaches |url=https://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/CoursePack/culture.htm |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=web.cocc.edu}}</ref> In the myth of Alcestis, somebody can interpret that she symbolizes women’s roles and expectations in Greece. Alcestis’ character also shows an integral trait cherished by the Greek and desired upon any gender.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Goldfarb |first=Barry E. |date=1992 |title=The Conflict of Obligations in Euripides' Alcestis |url=https://grbs.library.duke.edu/index.php/grbs/article/view/3621/5687 |journal=Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies |language=en |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=109–126 |issn=2159-3159}}</ref>


Such study can also be extended to other myth characters, including Alcestis’ husband, Admetus. An analysis of Admetus can come to criticize his acceptance of Alcestis’s sacrifice. However, he is shown to realize his mistake—a development in the character to represent growth.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lloyd |first=Michael |date=1985 |title=Euripides' 'Alcestis' |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/642438?seq=2 |journal=Greece & Rome |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=119–131 |issn=0017-3835}}</ref>
Such study can also be extended to other myth characters, including Alcestis’ husband, Admetus. An analysis of Admetus can come to criticize his acceptance of Alcestis’s sacrifice. However, he is shown to realize his mistake—a development in the character to represent growth.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lloyd |first=Michael |date=1985 |title=Euripides' 'Alcestis' |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/642438?seq=2 |journal=Greece & Rome |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=119–131 |issn=0017-3835}}</ref>
== Appearance in Other Works ==
{{in popular culture|date=September 2017}}
* [[Geoffrey Chaucer]]'s long poem, "[[The Legend of Good Women]]" features Alcestis as a character in both versions of the Prologue. In the poem, she is consort to the God of Love and instructs the poet-narrator to tell "a glorious legend / Of Goode wymmen, maydenes and wyves / That weren trewe in lovyng al hire lyves."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chaucer|first=Geoffrey|title=The Legend of Good Women|pages=F-Prologue, ll. 483-5 / G-Prologue, ll. 473-5}}</ref>
*[[John Milton|Milton]]'s famous sonnet, "[[Methought I Saw My Late Espoused Saint]]", c. 1650, alludes to the myth, with the speaker of the poem dreaming of his dead wife being brought to him "like Alcestis".
* [[Jean-Baptiste Lully|Lully]] wrote an [[Alceste (Lully)|opera]], first performed in 1674, based on the story.
* [[George Frideric Handel|Händel]] wrote a [[Alceste (Handel)|1750 masque, or semi-opera]], based on this myth.
* [[Christoph Willibald Gluck|Gluck]] in 1767 wrote a [[Alceste (Gluck)|significant reform opera]] on the story.
* [[Anton Schweitzer|Schweitzer]] composed an opera ''[[Alceste (Schweitzer)|Alceste]]'' to a libretto by [[Christoph Martin Wieland|Wieland]], premiered in 1773 in [[Weimar]], as a milestone of German opera.<ref name="Lawrence">{{cite journal
| last = Lawrence
| first = Richard
| url = https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/schweitzer-a-alceste
| title = Schweitzer, A Alceste
| journal = [[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]
| date = July 2008
| access-date = 20 July 2017
}}</ref>
* In his poem "Past Ruin'd Ilion", English writer and poet [[Walter Savage Landor]] (1775–1864) wrote the line "Alcestis rises from the shades" as having a double meaning, evoking her rise from Hades while demonstrating the ability of enduring poetry to give her vitality, drawing her into the light from the shadows of historical oblivion.
* Irish poet and playwright [[John Todhunter]] wrote a play called ''Alcestis: A Dramatic Poem'' that was published in 1879.


== Gallery ==
== Gallery ==
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==Notes==
==Notes==
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{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Princesses in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Princesses in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Queens in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Queens in Greek mythology]]

Latest revision as of 08:33, 26 November 2025

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File:Affreschi romani - pompei - alcesti e admeto.JPG
Alcestis and Admetus, ancient Roman fresco (45–79 CE) from the House of the Tragic Poet, Pompeii, Italy (photo by Stefano Bolognini).

In Greek mythology, Alcestis (Template:IPAc-en; Ancient Greek: Ἄλκηστις, Template:Grc-transl) or Alceste, was a princess of Iolcus known for her love of her husband. Her life story was described by Pseudo-Apollodorus in his Bibliotheca,[1] and a version of her death and return from the dead was also popularized by Euripides' tragedy Alcestis.

Family

Alcestis was the fairest among the daughters of Pelias, king of Iolcus, and either Anaxibia or Phylomache. She was sister to Acastus, Pisidice, Pelopia and Hippothoe.[2] Alcestis was the wife of Admetus by whom she bore a son, Eumelus, a participant in the siege of Troy, and a daughter, Perimele.[3]

Mythology

File:Herbert thomas dicksee--hercules wrestling with death for the soul of alcestis--1884.jpg
Herbert Thomas Dicksee, Hercules Wrestling with Death for the Soul of Alcestis, 1884, private collection.

When Alcestis came of age to marry, many suitors presented themselves before King Pelias to compete for her hand. Pelias proposed an impossible task, and declared that she would marry the first man to yoke a lion and a boar (or a bear in some cases) to a chariot. King Admetus of Pherae, was able to complete the task with the help of Apollo, who had been banished from Olympus for one year to serve as Admetus' shepherd. Alcestis and Admetus were married, but when making sacrifices after the wedding, Admetus forgot to make the required offering to Artemis; when he opened the marriage chamber, he found his bed full of coiled snakes.[4] Admetus interpreted the scene as a sign of his early death.[5]

Apollo again helped the newlywed king, this time by making the Fates drunk and tricking them into promising that if anyone was willing to die in Admetus' place, they would allow it. When the day of his death came near, no one volunteered, not even his elderly parents. Alcestis alone came forward to die in place of her husband.[6] As a token of his appreciation for Admetus' hospitality,[7] Heracles rescued Alcestis from the underworld shortly after fighting Thanatos.

After Heracles brings Alcestis back to the mortal realm and unites her with her husband, she is unable to speak. When Admetus questions this, Heracles informs him that she will be silent for three days until she is purified of her debt to the chthonic gods.[8]

Cultural Reference

Being an early Greek myth, the story of Alcestis can represent the cultural values in Greece at the time. It is known that myths hold cultural values as ways to teach lessons and highlight morals.[9] In the myth of Alcestis, somebody can interpret that she symbolizes women’s roles and expectations in Greece. Alcestis’ character also shows an integral trait cherished by the Greek and desired upon any gender.[10]

Such study can also be extended to other myth characters, including Alcestis’ husband, Admetus. An analysis of Admetus can come to criticize his acceptance of Alcestis’s sacrifice. However, he is shown to realize his mistake—a development in the character to represent growth.[11]

Gallery

Notes

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  1. ↑ Apollodorus, 1.9.15
  2. ↑ Apollodorus, 1.9.10
  3. ↑ Antoninus Liberalis, 23
  4. ↑ Apollodorus, 1.9.15
  5. ↑ Roman, L., & Roman, M. (2010). Template:Trim&pg=PA54 Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman mythology., p. 54, at Google Books
  6. ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae 243
  7. ↑ Apollodorus, 2.6.2
  8. ↑ Euripides, Alcestis, 1118
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".

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References

Template:Sister project

External links

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