page_title: Admetus
section_title: Heroism of Alcestis
hierarchical_section_title: Admetus / Mythology / Heroism of Alcestis
caption_attribution_description: English: Exhibit in the Wadsworth Atheneum - Hartford, Connecticut, USA. This work is old enough so that it is in the public domain.
context_page_description: In Greek mythology, Admetus was a king of Pherae in Thessaly.
context_section_description: The greatest aid Apollo gave to Admetus was persuading the Fates to reprieve Admetus of his fated day of death. According to Aeschylus Apollo made the Fates drunk, and the Fates agreed to reprieve Admetus if he could find someone to die in his place. Admetus initially believed that one of his aged parents would happily take their son's place of death. When they were unwilling, Alcestis instead died for Admetus.
  The scene of death is described in Euripides' play Alcestis, where Thanatos, the god of death, takes Alcestis to the Underworld. As Alcestis descends, Admetus discovers that he actually does not want to live:
  "I think my wife's fate is happier than my own, even though it may not seem so. No pain will ever touch her now, and she has ended life's many troubles with glory. But I, who have escaped my fate and ought not to be alive, shall now live out my life in sorrow."
  The situation was saved by Heracles, who rested at Pherae on his way towards the man-eating Mares of Diomedes. Heracles was greatly impressed by Admetus's kind treatment of him as a guest, and when told of Admetus' situation, he entered Alcestis' tomb. He repaid the honor Admetus had done to him by wrestling with Thanatos until the god agreed to release Alcestis, then led her back into the mortal world. According to other accounts, Persephone, queen of the Underworld instead brought Alcestis back to the upper world.
caption: Hercules Wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis by Frederic Lord Leighton, England (c. 1869-1871)
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