Macaria (daughter of Heracles)
daughter of Heracles in Greek mythology
In Greek mythology, Macaria (Ancient Greek: Μακαρία, romanized: Makaría, lit. 'blessed one, blessedness') is a daughter of the divine hero Heracles. After his immolation, Eurystheus hunted down the descendants of the hero, eventually besieging them in Athens. Macaria offered herself as sacrifice in order to save her kin and the city.
Etymology
The ancient Greek noun μακαρία translates to "happiness" or "bliss", but it can also mean "foolishness".
Family
Macaria was the daughter of Heracles, the Theban divine hero, and Deianira, his third wife.
Mythology
Euripides
In the play Children of Heracles by Euripides, Macaria flees with her siblings Alcmene and Iolaus from King Eurystheus, who is determined to kill all the children of Heracles. They find shelter in Athens, at the court of King Demophon. Eurystheus demands he hands them over, but Demophon refuses, even upon threat of war. His ultimatum refused, Eurystheus prepares to attack. An oracle foretells that the Athenians will only be victorious if a maiden of noble birth is sacrificed to the goddess Persephone, the queen of the Underworld.
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This entry incorporates text from “Macaria (daughter of Heracles)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.