In Greek mythology, Macaria is a daughter of the divine hero Heracles and his wife Deianira. After Heracles' immolation and apotheosis, King Eurystheus hunted down the hero's descendants, eventually besieging them in Athens. When an oracle foretold that the Athenians could win only if a maiden of noble birth were sacrificed, Macaria willingly offered herself to save her kin and the city. A spring at Marathon was afterward named Macaria in her honor.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Macaria (daughter of Heracles)" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family
Macaria was the daughter of Heracles, the Theban divine hero, and Deianira, his third wife.
II.Mythology
Euripides: In the play Children of Heracles, Macaria flees with her siblings, together with Alcmene and Iolaus, from King Eurystheus, who is determined to kill all the children of Heracles. They find shelter in Athens at the court of King Demophon. Eurystheus demands that Demophon hand them over, but the king refuses, even under the threat of war.
His ultimatum refused, Eurystheus prepares to attack. An oracle foretells that the Athenians will be victorious only if a maiden of noble birth is sacrificed to the goddess Persephone, queen of the Underworld.
Macaria approaches Iolaus, who informs her of the oracle's demand. On hearing it, she willingly volunteers to be sacrificed, reasoning that dying on the altar is more noble than living as a coward who doomed a city and its inhabitants. Iolaus, admiring her courage, suggests they draw lots instead, but Macaria declines and insists that she is the one who should die. As Iolaus cannot bring himself to do the deed, it is Demophon who leads Macaria away to be sacrificed as she says her final farewells, leaving the others to mourn her.
Other versions: In other authors, Heracles moved with his family to Trachis, ruled by the amicable king Ceyx, where they lived until his death. Eurystheus demanded their surrender, so Ceyx advised them to flee to Athens, where they were offered shelter by Theseus himself rather than by his son.
After Macaria's death, the Athenians honored her with costly funeral rites at her burial, since she had died to save them. A spring in Marathon was named Macaria after her.
III.Culture
Euripides is the oldest testimony of Macaria's tale, although he may have drawn the myth from a local Athenian legend, or even from Aeschylus, an earlier Athenian playwright.
The 10th-century Byzantine lexicon Suda records a proverbial phrase connected to Macaria, "be gone in blessedness" — that is, into misery and destruction — used as a euphemism for those whose courage endangered them, equivalent to modern curses such as "go to hell". According to the Greek sophist Zenobius, however, the phrase was originally said of those who sacrificed themselves with valor, as Macaria did.