Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

Journeying with Deianeira, Heracles came to the river Evenus. The centaur Nessus, claiming a god-given ferry right, carried passengers across for hire. Heracles swam or waded; he entrusted his wife to Nessus. Midstream the centaur assaulted her. She cried out; Heracles shot Nessus from the far bank with an arrow tipped in the Lernaean Hydra’s poison. As he died, Nessus told Deianeira to collect the blood from his wound—Sophocles adds the clotted blood mixed with his own seed—and keep it as a love-charm: if ever Heracles’s affection strayed, she should anoint a garment with it and he would desire no other woman. He lied. The “charm” was Hydra venom carried in his blood. Deianeira believed him and stored the philtre in secret. The marriage that began with Achelous’s defeat now carries its own doom in a jar. Years later, when Iole enters Trachis, Deianeira will remember Nessus’s gift and destroy the man she means only to bind.