Admetus

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Admetus

In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, Admetus /æd 'mi: t?s/ was a king of Pherae

Pherae

Pherae was an ancient Greek town in southeastern Thessaly. In mythology, it was the home of King Admetus, whose wife, Alcestis, Heracles went into Hades to rescue....
in Thessaly

Thessaly

Thessaly is one of the 13 Peripheries of Greece of Greece, and is further sub-divided into 4 Prefectures of Greece. The capital of the periphery and traditional Regions of Greece is Larissa....
, succeeding his father Pheres

Pheres

In Greek Mythology, Pheres , son of Cretheus, was the founder of Pherae in Thessaly. He fled there from Iolcus after his half-brother, Pelias, seized the throne....
after whom the city was named. Admetus was one of the Argonauts

Argonauts

In Greek mythology, the Argonauts were a band of heroes who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece....
and took part in the Calydonian Boar

Calydonian Boar

The Calydonian Boar is one of the monsters of Greek mythology that had to be overcome by heroes of the Olympian age. Sent by Artemis to ravage the region of Calydon in Aetolia because its king failed to honor her in his rites to the gods, it was killed in the Calydonian Hunt, in which many male heroes took part, but also a powerful wom...
hunt.

tus was famed for his hospitality and justice. When Apollo

Apollo

In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Twelve Olympians. The ideal of the kouros , Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more....
was sentenced to a year of servitude to a mortal as punishment for killing the Cyclops

Cyclops

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In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Pherae

Pherae was an ancient Greek town in southeastern Thessaly. In mythology, it was the home of King Admetus, whose wife, Alcestis, Heracles went into Hades to rescue....
in Thessaly

Thessaly

Pheres

Argonauts

Calydonian Boar

Mythology

Admetus was famed for his hospitality and justice. When Apollo

Apollo

Cyclops

In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, a cyclops , is a member of a primordial race of giant , each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead....
, the god chose Admetus' home and became his herdsman. Apollo was so impressed by Admetus' treatment that the god made all the cows bear twins.

Apollo also helped Admetus win the hand of the princess Alcestis

Alcestis

Alcestis is a princess in Greek mythology, known for her love of her Admetus. Her story was popularised in Euripides's tragedy Alcestis ....
, the daughter of Pelias

Pelias

Pelias was king of Iolcus in Greek mythology, the son of Tyro, daughter of Aleus, and of either Poseidon or Cretheus. His wife is recorded as either Anaxibia, daughter of Bias , or Phylomache, daughter of Amphion....
, the king of Iolcus. Alcestis had so many suitors that Pelias set an apparently impossible task to the suitors — to win the hand of Alcestis, they must yoke a boar and a lion to a chariot. Apollo harnessed the yoke with the animals and Admetus drove the chariot to Pelias, and thus married Alcestis.

Admetus, however, neglected to sacrifice to Artemis

Artemis

In Greek mythology, Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. She was the Hellenic goddess of forests and hills, child birth/virginity/fertility, the hunt and was often depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows.....
. The offended goddess filled the bridal chamber with snakes and again, Apollo came to Admetus' aid. Apollo advised Admetus to sacrifice to Artemis, and the goddess removed the snakes.

The greatest aid Apollo gave to Admetus was persuading the Fates

Moirae

The Moirae or Moerae , in Greek mythology, were the white-robed personifications of destiny . The Greek word moira literally means a part or portion, and by extension one's portion in life or destiny....
to reprieve Admetus of his fated day of death. Apollo made the Fates drunk, and the Fates agreed to reprieve Admetus if he could find someone to die in his place. Admetus initially believed that one of his aged parents would happily take their son's place of death. When they were unwilling, Alcestis instead died for Admetus.

The scene of death is described in Euripedes' play Alcestis
Alcestis (play)

Alcestis is an Classical Athens tragedy by the Classical Greece playwright Euripides. It was first produced at the Dionysia in 438 BCE. Euripides presented it as the final part of a tetralogy of unconnected plays in the competition of tragedies, for which he won second prize; this arrangement was exceptional, as the fourth part was norma...
, where Thanatos

Thanatos

In Greek religion, Th?natos was the Daemon personification of Death and Mortality. He was a minor figure in Greek mythology, often referred to but rarely appearing in person....
, the god of death, takes Alcestis to the Underworld. As Alcestis descends, Admetus discovers that he actually does not want to live:

I think my wife's fate is happier than my own, even though it may not seem so. No pain will ever touch her now, and she has ended life's many troubles with glory. But I, who have escaped my fate and ought not to be alive, shall now live out my life in sorrow.

The situation was saved by Heracles

Heracles

In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles meaning "glory of Hera", or "Glorious through Hera" Alcides or Alcaeus " was a hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus....
, who rested at Pherae on his way towards the man-eating Mares of Diomedes

Mares of Diomedes

The Mares of Diomedes, also called the Mares of Thrace were four man-eating horses in Greek mythology. Magnificent, wild, and uncontrollable, they belonged to the giant Diomedes King of Thrace , king of Thrace, a son of Ares and Cyrene who lived on the shores of the Black Sea....
. Heracles was greatly impressed by Admetus's kind treatment of him as a guest, and when told of Admetus' situation, he entered Alcestis' tomb. He repaid the honor Admetus had done to him by wrestling with Thanatos

Thanatos

Alcestis

Alcestis is a princess in Greek mythology, known for her love of her Admetus. Her story was popularised in Euripides's tragedy Alcestis ....
, then led her back into the mortal world. The most famous of Admetus's children was Eumelus

Eumelus

Eumelus was the name of:*Eumelus of Corinth, an epic poet of the second half of the eighth century BC*Several men in Greek mythology:**A Eumelus succeeded Admetus as the King of Pherae....
, who led a contingent from Pherae to fight in the Trojan War

Trojan War

In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy stole Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta....
. He also had a daughter Perimele.

Trojan

Admetus was also the name of one of the Trojans, killed by Philoctetes

Philoctetes

In Greek mythology, Philoctetes was the son of King Poeas of Meliboea in Thessaly. He was a Greek hero, famed as an archer, and was a participant in the Trojan War....
.