Alcestis

Alcestis (; Ancient Greek: Ἄλκηστις, ') 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'', and a version of her death and return from the dead was also popularized in Euripides's 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. Alcestis was the wife of Admetus by whom she bore a son, Eumelus, a participant in the siege of Troy, and a daughter, Perimele.

Mythology

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. Admetus interpreted it a portent of an early death.

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. As a token of his appreciation for Admetus' hospitality, 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. Euripides, in his work "Alcestis", asks: "But why does she not speak?"

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. 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.

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.

Appearance in Other Works

* 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."
* 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".
* Lully wrote an opera, first performed in 1674, based on the story.
* Händel wrote a 1750 masque, or semi-opera, based on this myth.
* Gluck in 1767 wrote a significant reform opera on the story.
* Schweitzer composed an opera '' Alceste'' to a libretto by Wieland, premiered in 1773 in Weimar, as a milestone of German opera.
* 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

File:Admetus Alcestis Chiaramonti Inv1195.jpg, Scenes from the myth of Admetus and Alcestis. Marble, sarcophagus of C. Junius Euhodus and Metilia Acte, 161–170 CE.
File:Farewell of Admetus & Alcestis.jpg, ''The Farewell of Admetus and Alcestis'' by George Dennis (1848)
File:Hercules Wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis, by Frederic Lord Leighton, England, c. 1869-1871, oil on canvas - Wadsworth Atheneum - Hartford, CT - DSC05068.jpg, ''Hercules Wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis'' by Frederic Lord Leighton, England (c. 1869–1871)
File:Alcesti.jpg, ''The Death of Alcestis'' by Angelica Kauffmann.
File:J H Tischbein dÄ Alkeste 1.jpg, ''Admetus beweint Alkeste'' by Johann Heinrich Tischbein (circa 1780)
File:J H Tischbein dÄ Alkeste 2.jpg, ''Herkules entreißt Alkestis dem Totengott Thanatos und führt sie dem Admetus zu'' by Johann Heinrich Tischbein (circa 1780)
File:Jean-François-Pierre Peyron - Alceste mourante - WGA17394.jpg, ''Alceste mourante'' by Jean-François Pierre Peyron (1785)
File:Wall painting - Admetos and Alkestis receiving the oracle - Herculaneum - Napoli MAN 9026 - 01.jpg, ''Alcestis and Admetus'', ancient Roman fresco (45–79 CE.) from the House of the Tragic Poet, Pompeii, Italy

Notes

References

*Antoninus Liberalis, ''The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis'' translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992)
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
*Cotterell, Arthur, and Rachel Storm. ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology''. Hermes House. .
*Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''The Library'' with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website

External links

��a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke

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Princesses in Greek mythology
Queens in Greek mythology
Mythological Iolcians
Suicides in Greek mythology
Works about sacrifice