Deianira (also spelled Deïanira or Deianeira) is a Calydonian princess in Greek mythology whose name translates as "man-destroyer" or "destroyer of her husband." She was the wife of Heracles and, in late Classical accounts, became his unwitting murderer through the poisoned Shirt of Nessus. She is the central figure of Sophocles' tragedy Women of Trachis.
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I.Family
Deianira was the daughter of Althaea and Oeneus, king of Calydon, and a sister of Meleager. Her other siblings included Toxeus, Clymenus, Periphas, Agelaus, Thyreus, Gorge, Eurymede, and Melanippe.
In some accounts she was instead the daughter of King Dexamenus of Olenus, which made her a sister of Eurypylus, Theronice, and Theraephone. Other writers gave the name of Dexamenus's daughter as Mnesimache or Hippolyte.
Deianira was the mother of Onites, Hyllus, Glenus, Ctesippus, and Macaria, the last of whom saved the Athenians from defeat by Eurystheus.
II.Mythology and literature
In Sophocles' account, the river god Achelous courted Deianira, but Heracles defeated him in a wrestling match for her hand. In another version, in which Dexamenus is her father, Heracles took her by force and promised to marry her; while he was away the centaur Eurytion demanded her, but Heracles returned, killed the centaur, and claimed his bride. Deianira herself was associated with combat, being described as one who drove a chariot and practiced the art of war.
The centaur Nessus later attempted to abduct or assault Deianira while ferrying her across the river Euenos. Heracles rescued her by shooting Nessus with an arrow steeped in the venom of the Hydra. As he was dying, Nessus deceived Deianira into collecting his blood, telling her that, mixed with Heracles' semen, it would ensure her husband's lasting fidelity.
When Heracles fell in love with the younger Iole, Deianira feared losing him and soaked a tunic in the supposed love charm. As soon as Heracles put it on, the venom burned his skin. Unable to endure the agony, he had a funeral pyre built and immolated himself. Realizing the fatal error she had made, Deianira took her own life, by hanging or by the sword.
In the Middle Ages Deianira appears in Giovanni Boccaccio's De Mulieribus Claris ("On Famous Women," 1361–62), one of the earliest collections of biographies devoted exclusively to women.
III.Calydonian family tree
The article places Deianira within the royal house of Calydon. As a daughter of Oeneus and Althaea, she belongs to the same line as her brother Meleager and her sister Gorge, and through her marriage to Heracles she links the Calydonian dynasty to the Heraclid descendants by way of her sons, chief among them Hyllus.