Alcmene and Zeus

People said that Alcmene was the most beautiful woman in the world. They praised her dark eyes. They admired her height. They celebrated her wisdom. She was thought by many to be the equal of a goddess, although Alcmene was careful not to credit this, for she knew what happened to those who vied with the gods. However, she attracted the attention of one of who was himself a god—indeed the king of the gods. Zeus had a habit, a reputation, of taking whomever aroused his lust, and his attention had fallen on the famed Alcmene.

One night Alcmene received a visit from her husband. Except that it seemed that this was her husband magnified, mightier than he had ever been. Alcmene’s caution was aroused, perhaps for no reason, but the things he told her in detail put her at ease and she accepted him into her bed. And for the second night. And for the third night. When her husband came to her the next night, saying he had arrived from a long journey, she was surprised.

“Nonsense, you have been with me for the last three nights!”

“Not at all! What is this dream you have had?”

However, even the secrets of the gods are not always well kept, and the couple discovered exactly whom Alcmene’s paramour had been. Unfortunately, the secret was also revealed to Hera, the wife of Zeus, so often shamed by her adulterous husband. Alcmene was not safe from her wrath, and it was only through trickery that the mortal was able to deliver this son of Zeus.

To attempt to avert the further anger of the goddess, the child was named Heracles, “the glory of Hera”. She, however, was not mollified and Hera was the bane of Heracles his whole life.

Alcmene, detail, Italian red figure vase, c. 360–320 BC
(British Museum, London)