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:''Alcmena is the name of a spider genus.; '82 Alkmene' is an asteroid.''

In Greek mythology 'Alcmene', or 'Alcmênê' was the mother of Heracles. She was the daughter of Electryon, king of Mycenae and a son of Perseus. Her mother was either Anaxo, sister of Amphitryon, and thus Electryon's niece, or a daughter of Pelops, either Eurydice or Lysidice. Alcmena was the wife of Amphitryon in his exile, though he had accidentally killed her father.
With Amphitryon she fled to Thebes, where Creon purified her husband of his blood-guilt. Because Alcmene's eight brothers had been killed by a cattle raid, she would not lie with Amphitryon until they had been avenged.
Thus at Thebes she was the mother of Heracles by Zeus, who assumed the likeness of her husband during his absence to lie with her and stayed Helios, to make one night into three; and she was the mother of Iphicles by Amphitryon, when he returned, she gave birth to Heracles' twin, younger by a day. In this way Alcmene is one among several mothers of mythic twins of whom the sire of one is mortal, of the other a god, the most famous of them being the Dioscuri, two from the double set of such twins of Leda. Theseus combined in his person a double fatherhood, a human father and a divine: see Theseus. In this case Alcmene's son Iphicles was mortal, while Heracles became immortal.
When Alcmene was in labor, she was having difficulty giving birth to a child so large. After seven days she called for assistance from Lucina, the goddess of childbirth. Lucina however was under orders from Hera not to assist. Instead, she clasped her hands and crossed her legs, preventing the child from being born. Alcmene struggled in pain, cursed the heavens, and became close to death. Galanthis, a servant of Alcmene, noticed Lucina and deduced Hera's plans. She lied to the goddess and said the baby was just born, and this so startled Luchina that she jumped up and unclasped her hands. Now free from her spell, Alcmene was finally able to give birth to Heracles. ^[1]
Through Heracles, Alcmene was regarded as the ancestress of the Heracleidae, and venerated at Thebes and Athens.
Amphitryon once tried to burn Alcmene for infidelity, but was stopped by Zeus, who sent a downpour.
After the death of Amphitryon, Alcmene married the Cretan Rhadamanthus, who was exiled in Boeotia. Their "tombs" were shown to travellers in classical times at Haliartus (Graves, 88.i); such "tombs" were generally sites for propitiatory ancestor cults (compare Burkert 1985).

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Popular Culture

References

Popular Culture

Alcmene was played by three different actresses in : Elizabeth Hawthorne and Liddy Holloway, and by Jennifer Ludlam in the Hercules and the Amazon Women TV movie

References

1. Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' 9.273


★ Burkert, Walter, ''Greek Religion: "Clan and Family Mysteries'' pp 278ff.

★ Graves, Robert, 1960. ''The Greek Myths'' (revised edition)

★ Arthur Cotterell and Rachel Storm, ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology''. Hermes House ISBN 9-780681-032187