Megara, daughter of Creon of Thebes, was the wife of Heracles — so Odysseus names her among the high-hearted shades he beholds in the house of Hades, the wife of the son of Amphitryon, ever stubborn in might.1
When Heracles overthrew the Minyans of Orchomenus and lifted the tribute they had laid on Thebes, Creon gave him his eldest daughter, Megara, as a prize of valour — while in that same fight Amphitryon fell fighting bravely. By her Heracles had three sons, Therimachus, Creontiades, and Deicoon.2
After the battle with the Minyans, Heracles was driven mad through the jealousy of Hera, and flung into the fire his own children whom he had by Megara, together with two children of Iphicles. For this blood he condemned himself to exile and went to Delphi, and so the labours began.3
Hyginus tells the madness more darkly still: among the men who killed their wives he sets Heracles, son of Jove, who slew Megara, daughter of Creon, in his fit of insanity — and in his telling her sons by Heracles were Therimachus and Ophites. In this strand it is Megara herself, and not only the children, who perishes.4
Apollodorus, by contrast, lets her live: after his labours Heracles returned to Thebes and gave Megara to Iolaus, then sought a new bride, having learned that Eurytus of Oechalia had offered his daughter Iole to whoever should beat him and his sons at archery. Whether Megara died in the madness or was handed on to Iolaus, the ancient tellers do not agree.5
Homer leaves only the end visible. In the gathering of the dead Odysseus sees her among the wives and daughters of heroes — Megara, daughter of Creon, who had been wife to Heracles — and so the oldest account presupposes her death without naming its cause, the silence into which the later contradiction would grow.6
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the spine ignites as you read · hover a bond on the card — every mention of them lights in the story
