#alcmene

[katerinaaqu]

Someone: Medea is like a rare exception to the rule...she is a woman that speaks her mind

Someone: Clytemnestra is like a rare exception to the rule...she is a woman that speaks her mind

Someone: Electra is like a rare exception to the rule...she is a woman that speaks her mind

Someone: Antigone is like a rare exception to the rule...she is a woman that speaks her mind

Someone: Alcmene is like a rare exception to the rule...she is a woman that speaks her mind

Someone: Penelope is like a rare exception to the rule...she is a woman that speaks her mind

Someone: Hecuba is like a rare exception to the rule...she is a woman that speaks her mind

Me: ...

Me: I think it is about time we started considering the exceptions and the rules here because math ain't always mathing....

[kexytimes]

Have you drawn Alcmene before?

kinda? I have this unfinished (and lowkey abandoned lol) sketch of her and baby heracles

[fleurbleedinghearts]

Any of the women Hera punished that CHOSE to be Zeus’s mistress after Zeus married Hera had it coming idc

“but it’s only because Hera doesn’t like another woman’s kids surpassing hers”

And rightly so! She absolutely shouldn’t be happy if her kids are neglected in favor of a bastard when marriage (her domain!) only existed to protect women and her legitimate offspring.

Kids definitely aren’t the ONLY reason though, she wasn’t happy about Ganymede being loved by Zeus, while at the same time definitely had affection for Athena, who isn’t Zeus’s affair baby.

If another woman is choosing to have kids with Zeus while knowing he’s married to Hera, then she is making the conscious CHOICE to position herself as a threat to Hera.

Maybe just don’t try to mess with a woman who’s superior to you in every fathomable way and stay in your lane, which is below Hera.

This doesn’t apply to Zeus’s victims of course (Io if she was unwilling, Europa, Aegina, Antiope, Callisto, Danaë, and Alcmene you will always be respected by me), most of who Hera didn’t punish

Leto and Semele on the other hand don’t deserve to be victimized to paint Hera as a villain

If you want villain Hera, just choose one of Zeus’s victims that she went after instead of sending the message:

“you deserve to be treated nicely even though you chose to sleep with another woman’s husband and that woman has no right to be pissed at you for choosing to threaten her”

[sarafangirlart]

Looked at the Legend of Hercules Wikipedia page and we all know it’s inaccurate but this is the funniest part. Acting like Alcmene wasn’t a little bloodthirsty and demanded that Amphitryon sack Taphos to avenge her brothers or else she wouldn’t sleep with him. She would not be upset about him conquering other kingdoms lol

[oxyintelligent]

Oh. my. god.

Edit: More info!

“Turning to tragedy, we are told by Hesychios that Aischylos wrote an Alkmene (p. 130 R.). Since that title does not appear in the Medicean Catalogue (though others are missing as well), and there are no other references, Hesychios may be mistaken. In any case, there is no indication of plot. The same is true of Sophokles’ Amphitryon, which could deal with the slaying of Elektryon, or the deception by Zeus, or something else. Euripides’ Alkmene is more promising: though here again we have no certain evidence of plot, South Italian vase-painting presents on several occasions a tableau with obvious Euripidean potential.¹ On the vases in question Alkmene has taken refuge at an altar around which Amphitryon has then piled wood for a fire which he is in process of lighting (e.g., Taranto 4600, London F149, London F193). Fortunately, Zeus intervenes, sending a thunderbolt to discourage Amphitryon and two clouds to put out the fire. Presumably Amphitryon had come to believe that his rival was some mortal lover of Alkmene, and sought to punish her. The story seems tailor-made for the stage, and especially for Euripides, who uses so well the possibilities for conflict arising out of misunderstanding.”

- Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, by Timothy Gantz

[iolausian-fields]

Happy solstice wishes from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

For @12daysofchristmas and the prompt "Decorating the Tree"

[laiapolypharmakos]

The Hyades as clouds at Dawn (Eos) saving Alcmene from being burnt alive

Paestan red figure bell krater, atributed to Python Painter, ca. 400-300 BC. Bristish Museum (BM 1890-0210-1)

This scene is absolutely horrifying: yes, Amphitryon and someone called Antenor are in the process of burning Alcmena😟 (it’s speculated that this might be a plot from a lost play by Euripides called "Alkmene"), but she ends up being saved by Zeus, who sends the Hyades (rain-bringing nymphs) to make it rain.

But even though it’s terrible, I love a few details: the Hyades are wearing red dresses because this is happening at dawn. Eos is looking on from the top right (I find that very poetic). Plus, the beautiful embellishments on the clothing, and the smoke (even though it’s smoke and the context is very bad), it’s absolutely stunning. The lightning bolt beneath the pyre and Alcmene looking at Zeus and vice versa. Not to mention that the vases in the Hyades are hydriae (the kind of vases used to carry water) I love it.

I’ve found another depiction of this episode of Alcmene, where Zeus isn’t there but the Hyades are, along with two hydriae.

Campanian red figure neck amphora, attributed to Louvre K491, ca. 400-300BC. British Museum (1873,0820.341)

This second Alcmene looks far more pitiful than the first one because she’s looking down and can’t see Zeus… Amphitryon, I hate you…

I now hc that Nefele’s dress changes colour depending on the time of day, just like the Hyades in the first photo. Phrixus' mama having a cool dress😀

[nardialrose]

Alcmene being married off to the Isle of the Blessed Crackships

-Johanna Astrid Michels. Agenorid Myth in the ›Bibliotheca‹ of Pseudo-Apollodorus