Alcmene
Alcmene is a granddaughter of Perseus, married to Amphitryon of Tiryns. While Amphitryon is away avenging her brothers, Zeus takes his exact appearance, stretches the night to three times its length, and lies with her. Amphitryon returns the same night and also lies with her, so Alcmene bears twins by two fathers: Heracles by Zeus and Iphicles by Amphitryon.
Alcmene, mortal mother of the hero Heracles
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Core Myth
Apollodorus places Alcmene as a granddaughter of Perseus, married to her cousin Amphitryon. Before the marriage is consummated, Amphitryon kills Alcmene's father by accident and the couple flees to Thebes, where Alcmene sets a condition: she will not sleep with him as husband and wife until he has avenged her brothers, killed by the Teleboans. Amphitryon leads a campaign against them and wins. On the night he is due to return, Zeus takes his exact form and appearance and arrives first, telling Alcmene of the victory in detail and prolonging the single night to three times its ordinary length. When the real Amphitryon arrives the next day, Alcmene is puzzled that he shows no more warmth than the night before, since as far as she knows they have already spent the night together. Amphitryon learns from the seer Tiresias what has happened. He lies with her that same night as well, so Alcmene conceives two sons on consecutive nights: Heracles by Zeus, the elder, and Iphicles by Amphitryon. Hera's hostility begins before the birth. Zeus boasts on Olympos that a descendant of Perseus about to be born will rule all his neighbors, meaning Heracles; Hera tricks him into swearing an oath to that effect, then has the birth of a rival descendant, Eurystheus, hastened and Alcmene's own labor delayed, so that Eurystheus is born first and receives the kingship Zeus meant for Heracles. Once the twins are born, Hera sends two serpents to their cradle; the infant Heracles strangles both with his bare hands, the first sign of what he will become.
Why did Zeus disguise himself as Amphitryon?
Alcmene had made a condition of the marriage: she would not sleep with Amphitryon until he avenged her brothers, killed in a raid by the Teleboans. Zeus wanted to father a son on her and knew she would refuse any lover but her husband, so he took Amphitryon's exact appearance and arrived on the night the real Amphitryon was due back from that campaign, telling her of the victory as if he had won it himself.
Apollodorus, Library 2.4.8
How long did the night Zeus spent with Alcmene last?
Apollodorus and later authors describe Zeus stretching the single night to three times its normal length, which is why Alcmene did not notice anything unusual until the real Amphitryon returned the next day and seemed no warmer toward her than the disguised god had been the night before.
Apollodorus, Library 2.4.8
How did Amphitryon find out what had happened?
He noticed Alcmene did not greet him with any particular warmth, since as far as she knew they had already spent the previous night together. Confused, he consulted the seer Tiresias, who told him that Zeus had taken his form and slept with Alcmene the night before. Amphitryon still lay with her himself that same night, which is how Alcmene came to bear twin sons by two different fathers.
Apollodorus, Library 2.4.8
Why was Heracles born after Eurystheus instead of before him?
Zeus announced that a descendant of Perseus about to be born, meaning Heracles, would rule all his kin. Hera, hostile to Alcmene, tricked Zeus into swearing an oath binding him to that exact wording, then had the birth goddess Eileithyia hold back Alcmene's labor while hurrying along the birth of Eurystheus, another descendant of Perseus born prematurely. Because Eurystheus was born first, the kingship and rule Zeus had sworn to bound to birth order went to him instead, which is why Heracles later serves Eurystheus rather than the reverse.
Homer, Iliad 19.95-133
What did Hera do to the infant Heracles at Alcmene's house?
Once the twins Heracles and Iphicles were born, Hera sent two serpents into the nursery to kill Heracles in his cradle. The infant strangled both of them with his bare hands before anyone else in the household could intervene, an early sign, in the tradition, of the strength that would define his adult life.
Apollodorus, Library 2.4.8
Later Traditions
Plautus's comedy Amphitruo turns the disguised night into farce, and the situation was reused across Roman and later European comedy under the same name. Euripides' Heracles instead focuses on Alcmene's old age, when she takes refuge with her grandchildren at an altar in Athens from Eurystheus's persecution. Some later sources have Zeus grant Alcmene a measure of ease in her final years or immortality after death, in recognition of what she suffered on Heracles's account.
Lineage
See the full family tree1 recorded relation, each with the ancient line behind it.
Also Connected
2 recorded connections, each with the ancient line behind it.
Enemies
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Hera tricked Zeus into an oath that cost Heracles the birthright meant for him, delayed Alcmene's labor to favor a rival's birth instead, and sent serpents into the nursery to kill the infant.
Connected
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Zeus took the exact form of Alcmene's husband Amphitryon and stretched a single night to three times its length to lie with her, the event her entire recorded myth turns on.
Where Accounts Differ
- how long the night lasted
- whether Amphitryon knew
- Apollodorus gives the connected narrative of the disguised night and the birth-order trick; Homer's Iliad is the earlier source for Hera delaying Alcmene's labor to favor Eurystheus, without naming Alcmene directly by the disguise story.
- Whether Amphitryon ever fully accepts Zeus's role, or resents it, is left ambiguous across sources; Plautus's comic treatment plays the situation for confusion rather than resolving it.
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Mythology
Appears In
Related Terms
Sources
- Apollodorus, Library 2.4.8
- Homer, Iliad 19.95-133
- Euripides, Heracles
- Timothy Gantz, Early Greek Myth (1993)