# Question of how Megara Hercules 's wife actually dies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [March 13, 2023, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-of-how-megara-hercules-s-wife-actually-dies/981098 "2023-03-13T05:20:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-of-how-megara-hercules-s-wife-actually-dies/981098/1 "2023-03-13T05:20:56Z")
There is typically a description of how Hercules kills his victims. Curiously I have never come across any description of how he kills his first wife Megara. I’d been interested to know how she died. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-of-how-megara-hercules-s-wife-actually-dies/981098/2 "2023-03-13T05:55:46Z")
In Seneca’s _Hercules Furens_ (Mad Hercules), he kills her with a club, according to this summary: “After another short pause, Amphitryo vividly describes for the audience the offstage killings of Megara and the third child of Hercules. The boy is truly terrified (_pavefactus spiritum eripuit pavor,_ 1022– 23) by his father’s fiery expression (_igneo vultu_, 1022), while Hercules smashes Megara with his club (_in coniugem nunc clava libratur gravis_, 1024).” (Kohn 104) Thomas Kohn. _The Dramaturgy of Senecan Tragedy_. University of Michigan Press, 2013. ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-of-how-megara-hercules-s-wife-actually-dies/981098/3 "2023-03-13T06:40:04Z")
Thanks I was looking at Seneca’s play today. I missed it. Thanks gkster. I’ll look at it again. So no versions where he strangles or throttles or breaks her neck. I remember hearing those versions but never seeing them in print. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-of-how-megara-hercules-s-wife-actually-dies/981098/4 "2023-03-13T06:41:53Z")
You’re welcome; I enjoy these research puzzles. According to the Kohn summary, it’s in Act IV. I looked at Graves’s Greek Myths and according to him there’s no consensus on how or when she dies. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-of-how-megara-hercules-s-wife-actually-dies/981098/5 "2023-03-14T00:00:33Z")
> [@Octagon](#): > > There is typically a description of how Hercules kills his victims. Although, most of his victims are worthy opponents. How to kill a lion with skin impervious to weapons, or a hydra who regrows every severed head in duplicate, is a story worth telling. How to kill an ordinary unarmed mortal woman, much less so. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-of-how-megara-hercules-s-wife-actually-dies/981098/6 "2023-03-14T00:07:12Z")
From Wiki: > Megara was married to [Heracles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heracles) by her father as a reward for the hero after he led the defense of Thebes against the [Minyans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minyans) at [Orchomenus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchomenus_(Boeotia)), and the couple had several sons together.[[7]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megara_(wife_of_Heracles)#cite_note-7) [Hera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hera) sent Heracles into a fit of temporary madness due to her hatred for him. In his madness, Heracles killed their children either by shooting them with arrows or by throwing them into a fire.[[8]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megara_(wife_of_Heracles)#cite_note-8)[[9]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megara_(wife_of_Heracles)#cite_note-9) Whether Megara also died as a result of this attack depended on the author.[[10]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megara_(wife_of_Heracles)#cite_note-10) In some sources, after Heracles completed his [Twelve Labours](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labours_of_Hercules), Megara married Heracles’ nephew [Iolaus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iolaus) and became the mother of [Leipephilene](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leipephilene) by him.[[11]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megara_(wife_of_Heracles)#cite_note-11)[[12]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megara_(wife_of_Heracles)#cite_note-12) Cites: 7 [Apollodorus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliotheca_(Pseudo-Apollodorus)), _Library,_ [2.4.11](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D4%3Asection%3D11) 8 [Diodorus Siculus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diodorus_Siculus), _Library of History,_ [4.11.1](https://www.theoi.com/Text/DiodorusSiculus4A.html#8) 9 [Apollodorus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliotheca_(Pseudo-Apollodorus)), _Library,_ [2.4.12](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D4%3Asection%3D12) 10 [Euripides](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euripides), _[Heracles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heracles_(Euripides))_ [1001](http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg009.perseus-eng1:977-1015); [Hyginus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyginus), _[Fabulae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabulae)_ 31.8, 241. 11 [Apollodorus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliotheca_(Pseudo-Apollodorus)), [2.6.1](http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.6.1). 12 Plutarch, _Moralia_ “The Dialogue on Love / _Erotikos_ / _Amatoria_”, Loeb, V. XII, p.339 Silk, Michael Stephen (1985). “Heracles and Greek tragedy”. _Greece & Rome_. **32** (1): 1–22. [doi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1017/S0017383500030096](https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0017383500030096). [JSTOR](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)) [642295](https://www.jstor.org/stable/642295). ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-of-how-megara-hercules-s-wife-actually-dies/981098/7 "2023-03-14T16:25:48Z")
But that’s just a play. **Octagon** wants to know what happened in real life. ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-of-how-megara-hercules-s-wife-actually-dies/981098/8 "2023-03-15T04:24:43Z")
ZonexandScout. Why don’t you go educate yourself. Go troll somewhere else! ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-of-how-megara-hercules-s-wife-actually-dies/981098/9 "2023-03-15T13:18:24Z")
**Modnotes** : Not sure what you were hoping to accomplish with this remark but it does appear you’re dragging something in from another thread or trying to troll @Octagon. Please do not do this again. > [@Octagon](#): > > ZonexandScout. Why don’t you go educate yourself. Go troll somewhere else! @Octogon, this is so close to a warning, I debated it for a while. Do not accuse posters of trolling outside of the the pit, even when justified. Flag the post instead. Do not do this again. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-of-how-megara-hercules-s-wife-actually-dies/981098/10 "2023-03-15T14:13:06Z")
My apologies. I did not intend to offend or troll. I was simply struck by the use of “actually” in relation to a (presumed) mythological incident and made a comment intended to be humorous. I failed and accept the blame. ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-of-how-megara-hercules-s-wife-actually-dies/981098/11 "2023-03-15T14:33:25Z")
Ok. Understood. It won’t happen again. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-of-how-megara-hercules-s-wife-actually-dies/981098/12 "2023-03-15T18:50:16Z")
According to the well respected biographer Walt Disney, Megara is killed saving Hercules and he rescues her from Hades. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2023, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-of-how-megara-hercules-s-wife-actually-dies/981098/13 "2023-03-16T06:04:25Z")
_I_ thought it was funny. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2023, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-of-how-megara-hercules-s-wife-actually-dies/981098/14 "2023-03-16T13:03:24Z")
Thanks (I think)! ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2023, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-of-how-megara-hercules-s-wife-actually-dies/981098/15 "2023-03-17T21:51:07Z")
When my kids were 5 and 7, they were debating the unrealistic way that fights are shown in cartoons. One of them said “In real life it’s not that way” and the other replied “Yes, but in fake life it is!” So for a few years “in fake life” was a catch-phrase in our household, and your post reminded me of it.