When Hercules sailed on a ship across the sea to the shores of Thrace for the horses of King Diomedes, he decided to visit his friend, King Admetus, since the path lay past the city of Fer, where Admetus ruled.
Hercules chose a difficult time for Admet. Great grief reigned in the house of King Fer [1]. His wife Alcestis was supposed to die. Once upon a time, the goddesses of fate, the great Moirai, at the request of Apollo, determined that Admetus could get rid of death if, in the last hour of his life, someone agreed to voluntarily descend in his place to the dark kingdom of Hades. When the hour of death came, Admetus asked his elderly parents that one of them would agree to die in his place, but the parents refused. None of the inhabitants of Fer agreed to die voluntarily for King Admet. Then the young, beautiful Alcestis decided to sacrifice her life for her beloved husband. On the day when Admetus was supposed to die, his wife prepared for death. She washed the body and put on funeral clothes and jewelry. Approaching the hearth, Alcestis turned to the goddess Hestia, who gives happiness in the house, with a fervent prayer:
- Oh, great goddess! For the last time I kneel here before you. I pray to you, protect my orphans, because today I must descend into the kingdom of dark Hades. Oh, don’t let them die like I am dying, untimely! May their life be happy and rich here in their homeland.
Then Alcestis went around all the altars of the gods and decorated them with myrtle.
Finally, she went to her chambers and fell in tears on her bed. Her children came to her - a son and a daughter. They wept bitterly on their mother's chest. Alcestis's maids also cried. In despair, Admet hugged his young wife and begged her not to leave him. Alcestis is already ready for death; Tanat, the god of death, hated by gods and people, is already approaching the palace of King Fer with silent steps to cut off a strand of hair from Alcestis’s head with a sword. The golden-haired Apollo himself asked him to delay the hour of death of the wife of his favorite Admetus, but Tanat was inexorable. Alcestis feels the approach of death. She exclaims in horror:
- Oh, Charon’s two-oared boat is already approaching me, and the carrier of the souls of the dead, driving the boat, shouts menacingly to me: “Why are you delaying? Hurry, hurry! Time is running out! Don’t delay us. Everything is ready! Hurry!” Oh, let me go! My legs are getting weaker. Death is approaching. Black night covers my eyes! Oh children, children! Your mother is no longer alive! Live happily! Admet, your life was dearer to me than my own life. Let the sun shine better for you and not for me. Admet, you love our children no less than me. Oh, don’t take a stepmother into their house so that she doesn’t offend them!
The unfortunate Admetus suffers.
“You take all the joy of life with you, Alcestis!” - he exclaims, - all my life now I will grieve for you. Oh gods, gods, what a wife you are taking away from me!
Alcestis says barely audibly:
- Goodbye! My eyes have already closed forever. Goodbye children! Now I am nothing. Farewell, Admet!
- Oh, look at least once again! Don't leave your children! Oh, let me die too! - Admet exclaimed with tears.
Alcestis's eyes closed, her body grew cold, she died. Admet weeps inconsolably over the deceased and bitterly complains about her fate. He orders a magnificent funeral to be prepared for his wife. For eight months he orders everyone in the city to mourn Alcestis, the best of women. The whole city is full of sorrow, since everyone loved the good queen.
They were already preparing to carry the body of Alcestis to her tomb, when Hercules came to the city of Thera. He goes to Admetus's palace and meets his friend at the palace gates. Admet greeted the great son of the aegis-power Zeus with honor. Not wanting to sadden the guest, Admet tries to hide his grief from him. But Hercules immediately noticed that his friend was deeply saddened, and asked about the reason for his grief. Admet gives an unclear answer to Hercules, and he decides that Admet’s distant relative died, whom the king sheltered after the death of his father. Admetus orders his servants to take Hercules to the guest room and arrange a rich feast for him, and to lock the doors to the women’s quarters so that the groans of sorrow do not reach Hercules’ ears. Unaware of the misfortune that befell his friend, Hercules happily feasts in the palace of Admetus. He drinks cup after cup. It is difficult for the servants to serve the cheerful guest - after all, they know that their beloved mistress is no longer alive. No matter how hard they try, by order of Admetus, to hide their grief, Hercules still notices tears in their eyes and sadness on their faces. He invites one of the servants to feast with him, says that the wine will give him oblivion and smooth out the wrinkles of sadness on his brow, but the servant refuses. Then Hercules realizes that a grave grief has befallen the house of Admetus. He starts asking the servant what happened to his friend, and finally the servant tells him:
“Oh, stranger, Admetus’s wife descended today to the kingdom of Hades.”
Hercules was saddened. It pained him that he had feasted in a wreath of ivy and sung in the house of a friend who had suffered such great grief. Hercules decided to thank the noble Admetus for the fact that, despite the grief that befell him, he still received him so hospitably. The great hero quickly decided to take away his prey, Alcestis, from the gloomy god of death Tanat.
Having learned from the servant where the tomb of Alcestis is located, he hurries there as soon as possible. Hiding behind the tomb, Hercules waits for Tanat to fly in to drink at the grave of sacrificial blood. Then the flapping of Tanat’s black wings was heard, and a breath of grave cold blew in; the gloomy god of death flew to the tomb and greedily pressed his lips to the sacrificial blood. Hercules jumped out of the ambush and rushed at Tanat. He grabbed the god of death with his mighty arms, and a terrible struggle began between them. Straining all his strength, Hercules fights with the god of death. Tanat squeezed the chest of Hercules with his bony hands, he breathes on him with his chilling breath, and from his wings the cold of death blows on the hero. Nevertheless, the mighty son of the thunderer Zeus defeated Tanat. He tied up Thanat and demanded, as a ransom for freedom, that the god of death bring Alcestis back to life. Thanat gave Hercules the life of Admetus's wife, and the great hero led her back to her husband's palace.
Admetus, returning to the palace after his wife’s funeral, bitterly mourned his irreplaceable loss. It was hard for him to stay in the empty palace. Where should he go? He envies the dead. He hates life. He calls death. All his happiness was stolen by Tanat and taken to the kingdom of Hades. What could be harder for him than the loss of his beloved wife! Admet regrets that she did not allow Alcestis to die with her, then their death would have united them. Hades would have received two souls faithful to each other instead of one. Together these souls would cross the Acheron. Suddenly Hercules appeared before the mournful Admetus. He leads a woman covered with a veil by the hand. Hercules asks Admetus to leave this woman, who he got after a difficult struggle, in the palace until his return from Thrace. Admet refuses; he asks Hercules to take the woman to someone else. It’s hard for Admet to see another woman in his palace when he lost the one he loved so much. Hercules insists and even wants Admetus to bring the woman into the palace himself. He does not allow Admetus' servants to touch her. Finally, Admetus, unable to refuse his friend, takes the woman by the hand to lead her into his palace. Hercules tells him:
- You took it, Admet! So protect her! Now you can say that the son of Zeus is a true friend. Look at the woman! Doesn't she look like your wife Alcestis? Stop being sad! Be happy with life again!
- Oh, great gods! - Admetus exclaimed, lifting the woman’s veil, “my wife Alcestis!” Oh no, it's just her shadow! She stands silently, she didn’t say a word!
- No, it’s not a shadow! - Hercules answered, - this is Alcestis. I obtained it in a difficult struggle with the lord of souls, Thanat. She will remain silent until she frees herself from the power of the underground gods, bringing them atonement sacrifices; she will remain silent until night gives way to day three times; only then will she speak. Now farewell, Admet! Be happy and always observe the great custom of hospitality, sanctified by my father himself - Zeus!
- Oh, great son of Zeus, you gave me the joy of life again! - Admet exclaimed, - how can I thank you? Stay as my guest. I will command that your victory be celebrated in all my domains, I will command that great sacrifices be made to the gods. Stay with me!
Hercules did not stay with Admetus; a feat awaited him; he had to fulfill the order of Eurystheus and get him the horses of King Diomedes.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru