Alcestis

For the play, see Alcestis (play). For Latin poem, see Alcestis Barcinonensis.

Alcestis (/ælˈsɛstɪs/; Ancient Greek: Ἄλκηστις, Álkēstis) or Alceste, was a princess in Greek mythology, known for her love of her husband. Her life story was told by pseudo-Apollodorus in his Bibliotheca,^[1] and a version of her death and return from the dead was also popularized in Euripides's tragedy Alcestis.

Alcestis and Admetus, ancient Roman fresco (45–79 CE) from the House of the Tragic Poet, Pompeii, Italy (photo by Stefano Bolognini).

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

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. King Admetus was able to do this because he was helped by Apollo, who had been banished from 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.^[4] Admetus interpreted it a portent of an early death.^[5]

Apollo again helped the newlywed king, this time by making the 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.^[6] As a token of his appreciation for Admetus' hospitality,^[7] Heracles rescued Alcestis from the underworld, shortly after fighting with Thanatos. After Alcestis comes back and is united with her husband, she doesn't speak. Admetus, in Euripede's play "Alcestis", asks: "But why does she not speak?" to which Hercules tells him that she will be silent for three days until she is purified of her debt to the lower (Underworld) gods.

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.^[8] 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.^[9]

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.^[10]

Gallery

• 
  Scenes from the myth of Admetus and Alcestis. Marble, sarcophagus of C. Junius Euhodus and Metilia Acte, 161–170 CE.
• 
  The Farewell of Admetus and Alcestis by George Dennis (1848)
• 
  Hercules Wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis by Frederic Lord Leighton, England (c. 1869–1871)
• 
  The Death of Alcestis by Angelica Kauffmann.
• 
  Admetus beweint Alkeste by Johann Heinrich Tischbein (circa 1780)
• 
  Herkules entreißt Alkestis dem Totengott Thanatos und führt sie dem Admetus zu by Johann Heinrich Tischbein (circa 1780)
• 
  Alceste mourante by Jean-François Pierre Peyron (1785)
• 
  Alcestis and Admetus, ancient Roman fresco (45–79 CE.) from the House of the Tragic Poet, Pompeii, Italy