Hercules and Dianeira

Now Hercules was free. He had finished the 12 labours, as advised by the Oracle of Delphi, and nothing had happened to him. His glory was so great that there was not a man who did not know him.

Hercules married Dioneira, daughter of the king of Aetolia, Oeneas.

Hercules and Nessos

Once, when he and his wife were returning from a feast, they found themselves in front of a flooded river. How could they cross it? As he sat pondering, a centaur, Nessus, appeared and suggested to him that his wife should cross. For the centaur was a man from the waist up and a horse from the waist down. So he could easily cross the river.

Hercules kills Nessos

Hercules accepted and they started. But when the Centaur reached the other side, he started running away with his wife and Dioneira. Then Hercules also grabbed his bow and killed the Centaur with his poisonous shuttles.

Nessos and Dianeira

Before he passed away, Nessos gave Dianeira his bloody shirt and said to her:

"If Hercules ever forgets you, send him a shirt made with the threads of mine, and then he'll come back."

Once, Hercules was late, and Diana sent him the shirt.

The death of the hero

The hero put it on, but soon he didn't feel well. Terrible pains began. He tried to take off the shirt, but his flesh was stuck together. Suffering terribly, he climbed Mount Oiti with a few of his friends.

There, he gathered a lot of wood and sat on it to burn. He begged his friends to make a fire, but none of them wanted to. Finally, Philoctetes lit the fire and gave him the bow with his poisoned arrows.