Editing Iole (section)

== Mythology ==
=== Heracles' love for Iole leads to his death ===
[[File:Studiolo, pitture 05 santi di tito, ercole e iole.JPG|left|thumb|[[Santi di Tito]]: Iole and Hercules]]

[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] recounted the tale in his ''Bibliotheca''. King Eurytus was an expert [[archery|archer]] who taught his sons his knowledge of the bow and arrow. He promised his daughter Iole to whoever could beat him and his sons in an archery contest. The sons shot so well that they beat all the others from the kingdom. Heracles then heard of the prize and eagerly entered the contest, for he desired the maiden. Heracles shot with keenness and even beat Eurytus' scores. It is ironic because Eurytus, in his early years, had taught Heracles to become an archer.<ref name="eurytos1" />

When the king realized that Heracles was winning, he stopped the contest and forbade him to participate. Eurytus was well-aware of Heracles' murder of his previous wife [[Megara (mythology)|Megara]] and their children, and was thus afraid that Iole and her offspring by him would suffer the same fate. Eventually, Heracles had won the contest but was not entitled to the prize because of his reputation. Eurytus broke his promise to give his royal daughter to the winner of the archery contest.

[[Iphitos]] urged his father to reconsider, but Eurytus did not pay any heed and stood by his decision. Heracles had not left the city yet when Eurytus' mares were run off, presumably by [[Autolycus]], a notorious thief. Iphitos asked Heracles to help him find them, which he agreed to do so. Heracles, in one display of his madness, hurled Iphitos over the city walls, murdering him.<ref name="eurytos1" /> According to Diodorus Siculus, it was Heracles himself who drove off the mares of Eurytus in revenge.<ref name="diodorus1">{{cite web|url= https://www.theoi.com/Text/DiodorusSiculus4B.html|title= Diodorus Siculus. ''Library of History'', Heracles, Eurytus and Iole [4.31.1 & 2] |access-date= 2008-08-28}}</ref> The hero had failed in his courtship to win Iole.<ref name="plutarch1">Pseudo-Plutarch, Iola and Clusia.</ref>

[[File:Hercules abducting Iole (Archaeological Museum of Piraeus, 2-12-2023).jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Heracles abducts Iole, second century AD relief, [[Archaeological Museum of Piraeus]].]]

After the archery contest, Heracles went to [[Calydon]], where, on the steps of the temple, he saw [[Deianira]], Prince [[Meleager]]'s sister. He forgot about Iole for a while and wooed her, eventually won her over and married her. Heracles, after acquiring a kingdom and in control of an army, went about to kill Eurytus in revenge for not giving up his promised prize.<ref name="perseus2">{{cite web|url= https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Apollod.+2.7.7|title= Apollodorus, Library and Epitome |access-date= 2008-08-25}}</ref> Hyginus added that Heracles not only murdered Eurytus, but also slew Iole's brothers and other relatives as well.<ref name="hyginus1">{{cite web|url= https://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae1.html|title= The Myths of Hyginus, translated and edited by Mary Grant|access-date= 2008-08-25}}</ref>

The hero plundered Oechalia and overthrew its walls,<ref name="eurytos1" /> while Iole threw herself down from the high city wall to escape. It turned out that the garment she was wearing opened up and acted like a [[parachute]], which ensured her soft and safe descent.<ref name="plutarch1" /> Heracles took Iole as a captive.<ref name="perseus2" /> His wife, Deianira, did not want Iole to become Heracles' concubine but she forbore to object and tolerated it temporarily.<ref name="miller1" />

Deianira feared she would lose Heracles to the younger and more beautiful Iole.<ref name="hyginus1" /> Years earlier, the [[Nessus (mythology)|centaur Nessus]] had ferried her across the river [[Evinos|Evenus]] and attempted to rape her when they were on the other side. Heracles saved her from Nessus by shooting him with poisoned arrows.<ref name="ovid9129158">Ovid. ''Metamorphoses'', 9. 129 & 158 ff (translation Melville).</ref> She had kept some of Nessus' blood, for the centaur told her, with his dying breath, that if she were to give Heracles a cloak [[Chiton (costume)|(chiton)]] soaked in his blood, it would be a [[The Shirt of Nessus|love charm]].<ref name="ovid1">{{cite web|url= https://english.edgewood.edu/heroides/hero09n.htm#Deianira|title= Ovid. ''Heroides'', 9 (Deianira).|access-date= 2008-08-23|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081121092126/https://english.edgewood.edu/heroides/hero09n.htm#Deianira|archive-date= 2008-11-21|url-status= dead}}</ref> Deianira, concerned by Heracles' infidelity, believed Nessus’ lie that Heracles would no longer desire any other woman after he was under the spell of the love philter.<ref name="pseudo1">Pseudo-Apollodorus. ''Bibliotheca'', 2.157.</ref> This seemed like the solution to her problem of reclaiming her husband's love from Iole, the foreign concubine. The cloak was delivered to Heracles and, when he put it on, the poison went into his body.<ref name="pseudo1" /> Deianira had unwittingly poisoned her husband with this purported love [[potion]]. Upon realizing the mistake she had made, Deianira killed herself.<ref name="hyginus1" /> Because of his love for Iole, Heracles asked his eldest son [[Hyllus]] to marry her so that she would be well taken care of.<ref name="frazer1" /> Iole and Hyllus had a son called [[Cleodaeus]],<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'', 3. 15. 10; [[Plutarch]], ''Pyrrhus'', 1</ref> and also three daughters, [[Evaechme]],<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'', 4. 2. 1</ref> Aristaechme, and Hyllis.<ref>[https://press.princeton.edu/books/lyons/appendix.html Lyons, Deborah. Gender and Immortality: Appendix - A Catalogue of Heroines] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720034913/https://press.princeton.edu/books/lyons/appendix.html |date=2011-07-20 }} (with references to [[Hesiod]], Fragment 251a for Aristaechme and [[Ibycus]], Fragment 282a for Hyllis). Respecting Hyllis, see also [[Zeuxippus (mythology)|Zeuxippus]]</ref>
{{see also|Shirt of Nessus}}[[File:Woodcut illustration of Hercules (dressed as both a man and a woman) and Iole - Penn Provenance Project.jpg|left|thumb|260x260px|Woodcut illustration of Hercules (dressed as both a man and a woman) and Iole]]

=== Versions of the tale ===
====Ovid's account====
Ovid's version of this story (''Heroides'' 9) has Heracles under the erotic control of Iole. She specifically has Heracles wear women's clothing and perform women's work. Heracles, all the while, is bragging about his heroic deeds. However, Deianira reminds him how he is dressed in feminine attire and Iole is wearing his clothing while carrying his club. Deianira ultimately urges silence from him. The same version shows the disgrace and shame of Heracles, who was once a strong warrior fighter, outwitted by Iole in being made to do effeminate acts. In this skillful crafty manner, she had avenged her father's death.<ref name="heroides9">{{cite web|url= https://www.theoi.com/Text/OvidMetamorphoses9.html|title= Metmorhoses book 9, trans. by Brooks More|access-date= 2008-09-11}}</ref>

====Sophocles' account====
According to [[Sophocles]]' play ''[[Women of Trachis]]'', Iole's mother was [[Antiope (Greek myth)|Antiope]] and her siblings were [[Iphitos]], [[Clytius]], [[Toxeus]], [[Deioneus]], Molion, and Didaeon.<ref>Trach. 266</ref> In the play, Iole is described as the daughter of King Eurytus, the royal princess of Oechalia.<ref>Trach. 382</ref> She is among the captive maidens of Oechalia when Heracles ransacks the city. She is to become the concubine of Heracles.<ref>Trach. 460-490</ref> Toward the end of the play, Heracles asks his son Hyllus to marry her when he dies, so she will be well taken care of. Hyllus agrees to do this for his father.<ref>Trach. 1249-1288</ref>

====Seneca's account====
According to [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], Deianira is concerned that the captive Iole, who Heracles took as his concubine, will give brothers to her sons. She fears that Iole will become a daughter-in-law of Jove. He explains how Deianira thinks of the possible children of Heracles by Iole and her chance for vengeance on them. He shows the same jealousy Deianira has of Iole as does Apollodorus.<ref name="Seneca1">{{cite web|url= https://www.theoi.com/Text/SenecaHerculesOetaeus.html|title= Seneca, Hercules Oetaeus 1|access-date= 2008-09-11}}</ref>