Alcmēna

, was daughter of Electryon king of Argos, by Anaxo, whom Plutarch , ♦ These us calls Lysidice, and Diodorus , bk. 2 , Eurymede. Her father promised his crown and his daughter to A mph i try on, if he would revenge the death of his sons, who had been all killed, except Licymnius, by the Teleboans, a people of Ætolia. While A mph i try on was gone against the Ætolians, Jupiter, who was enamoured of Alcmena, resolved to introduce himself into her bed. The more effectually to insure succe in his amour, he a umed the form of A mph i try on, declared that he had obtained a victory over Alcmena’s enemies, and even presented her with a cup, which he said he had preserved from the spoils for her sake. Alcmena yielded to her lover what she had promised to her future husband; and Jupiter, to delay the return of A mph i try on, ordered his me enger, Mercury, to stop the rising of Phœbus, or the sun, so that the night he pa ed with Alcmena was prolonged to three long nights. A mph i try on returned the next day; and after complaining of the coldne with which he was received, Alcmena acquainted him with the reception of a false lover the preceding night, and even showed him the cup which she had received. A mph i try on was perplexed at the relation, and more so upon mi ing the cup from among his spoils. He went to the prophet Tires i as, who told him of Jupiter’s intrigue; and he returned to his wife proud of the dignity of his rival. Alcmena became pregnant by Jupiter, and afterwards by her husband; and when she was going to bring forth, Jupiter boasted in heaven that a child was to be born that day to whom he would give absolute power over his neighbours, and even over all the children of his own blood. Juno, who was jealous of Jupiter’s amours with Alcmena, made him swear by the Styx, and immediately prolonged the travails of Alcmena, and hastened the bringing forth of the wife of Sthenelus king of Argos, who, after a pregnancy of seven months, had a son called Eurystheus. Ovid , Metamorphoses , bk. 8 , fable 5, . , says that Juno was a isted by Lucina to put off the bringing forth of Alcmena, and that Lucina, in the form of an old woman, sat before the door of A mph i try on with her legs and arms cro ed. This posture was the cause of infinite torment to Alcmena, till her servant, Galant his, supposing the old woman to be a witch, and to be the cause of the pains of her mistre , told her that she had brought forth. Lucina retired from her posture, and immediately Alcmena brought forth twins, Hercules conceived by Jupiter, and Iphiclus by A mph i try on. Eurystheus was already born, and therefore Hercules was subjected to his power. After A mph i try on’s death, Alcmena married Rhadamanthus, and retired to Ocalea, in Bœotia. This marriage, according to some authors, was celebrated in the island of Leuce. The people of Megara said that she died ♠ on her way from Argos to Thebes, and that she was buried in the temple of Jupiter Olympius. Pausanias , bk. 1 , ch. 41 ; bk. 5 , ch. 18 ; bk. 9 , ch. 16 .— Plutarch , ♦ These us & Romulus .— Homer , Ody ey , bk. 11 ; Iliad , bk. 19 .— Pindar , Pythian , ♣ poem 4.— Lucian , Dialog i Deorum .— Diodorus , bk. 4 .— Hyginus , fable 29.— Apollo dor us , bk. 2 , chs. 4, 7; bk. 3 , ch. 1 .— Plautus , Amphitruo .— Hero dot us , bk. 2 , chs. 43 & 45.―― See: A mph i try on , Hercules , Eurystheus . ♦ ‘de Reb. Græc.’ replaced with ‘These us’ ♠ ‘in’ replaced with ‘on’ ♣ ‘9’ replaced with ‘4’