Phoebus Apollo had a son, Asclepius, who in time became a god of medicine and healing. Asclepius transgressed divine law by raising a mortal, Hippolytus, from the dead, and Zeus, in anger, killed Apollo’s son with a thunderbolt forged by the Cyclops. Apollo then slew the Cyclops, a deed for which he was condemned by Zeus to leave Olympus and to serve for one year as herdsman to Admetus, the
king of Pherae in Thessaly.
Some time after Apollo had completed his term of service, Admetus married Alcestis, the daughter of the king of Iolcus, Pelias. On his wedding day, however, he offended the goddess Artemis and so was doomed to die. Apollo, grateful for the kindness Admetus had shown him in the past, prevailed on the Fates to spare the king on the condition that when his hour of
death should come, they accept instead the life of whoever would consent to die in his place.
None of Admetus’ kin cared to offer himself in his place, but Alcestis, in wifely devotion, pledged herself to die for her husband. The day arrived when she must give up her life. Concerned for the wife of his mortal friend, Apollo appealed to Thanatos, who had come to take Alcestis to the underworld. Thanatos rejected his pleas, warning the god not to transgress against eternal judgment or the will of the Fates. Apollo declared that there was one powerful enough to defy the Fates who was even then on his way to the palace of Admetus. Meanwhile Alcestis prepared for her approaching death. On the day she was to die, she dressed herself in rich funeral robes and prayed before the hearth fire to Vesta, goddess of the hearth, asking her to be a mother to the two children she was leaving behind, to find a helpmate for the boy, a gentle lord for the girl, and not to let them follow their mother’s example and die before their time. After her prayers, she placed garlands of myrtle on each altar of the house and at each shrine prayed tearlessly, knowing that death was coming. In her own chamber she wept as she remembered the happy years she and Admetus had lived together. Her children found her there, and she said her farewells to them. The house was filled also with the sound of weeping servants, grieving for the mistress they loved. Admetus too wept bitterly, begging Alcestis not to leave him. While he watched, however, her breath grew fainter, and her cold hand fell languidly. Before she died, she asked him to promise that he would always care tenderly for their children and that he would never marry again.
At that moment, Hercules arrived at the palace of Admetus, on his way to slay the wild horses of Diomedes in Thrace as the eighth of his twelve labors. Admetus concealed from Hercules the news of Alcestis’ death so that he might keep the son of Zeus as a guest and carry out the proper rites of hospitality. Hercules, ignorant of what had taken place before his arrival in Pherae, spent the night carousing, drinking wine, and singing, only to awaken in the morning to discover that Alcestis had died hours before he came and that his host had purposely deluded him in order to make his stay in Pherae as comfortable as possible. In gratitude for Admetus’ thoughtfulness and in remorse for having reveled while the home of his friend was deep in sorrow, he determined to ambush Thanatos and bring Alcestis back from the dead.
Since no labor was too arduous for the hero, he set out after Thanatos and Alcestis. Overtaking them, he wrestled with Thanatos and forced him to give up his victim. Then he brought Alcestis, heavily veiled, into the presence of sorrowing Admetus, and asked the king to protect her until Hercules returned from Thrace. When Admetus refused, Hercules insisted that the king at least peer beneath the woman’s veil. Great was the joy of Admetus and his household when they learned that the woman was Alcestis miraculously returned from the grave. Pleased with his efforts, doughty Hercules continued his travels, firm in the knowledge that with him went the undying gratitude of Admetus and the gentle Alcestis.
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