Deianira
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Deïaneira or Deïanira (in Greek, Δηϊάνειρα or Δῃάνειρα — she that gets the heroes) was the third wife of Heracles, best-known for her role in the story of the Tunic of Nessus.
Death of Heracles
The central story of Deianira, however, concerns the Tunic of Nessus. A wild centaur named Nessus attempted to kidnap Deianira as he was ferrying her across the river Euenos, but she was rescued by Heracles, who shot the centaur with a poisoned arrow. As he lay dying, Nessus lied to Deianira, telling her that a mixture of olive oil with the semen that he had dropped on the ground and his heart's blood would ensure that Heracles would never again be unfaithful.
Deianira believed his words and kept a little of the potion by her. Heracles fathered illegitimate children all across Greece and then fell in love with Iole (also called Omphal). When Deianira thus feared that her husband would leave her forever, she smeared some of the blood on Heracles' famous lionskin shirt. Heracles' servant, Lichas, brought him the shirt and he put it on. The centaur's toxic blood burned Heracles terribly, and eventually, he threw himself into a funeral pyre. In despair, Deianira committed suicide by hanging herself or with a sword.
Deianira is the main character in the play Women of Trachis by Sophocles.
Deianira is also the name of a second character in Greek mythology, an Amazon killed by Heracles during his ninth labour, the quest for the girdle of Hippolyta.<ref>Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 4.16.3 [1]</ref>
