Deianeira, Iole, & the Violence of Heracles’ Love (Hercules & Sophocles’ Trachiniae Part 2)

Season 5 // Episode 362

This episode originally aired on March 8, 2022. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Get ad-free episodes and so, so much more, by subscribing to the Oracle Edition at patreon.com/mythsbaby

Continuing on with Sophocles' Women of Trachis, Deianeira learns the truth of where Heracles has been all this time, and what he's been doing. Spoilers: it's not good.

CW/TW: Specific references to the effects and horrors of war, this was planned and written prior to the invasion of Ukraine, please take special care. Far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.

Sources: Theoi.com; Sophocles' Women of Trachis/The Trachiniae, translations by Robert Torrance, George Theodoridis, and Peter Meineck. Quote from the Meineck unless otherwise noted in the episode. Thanks to Ash Strain for researching the play, as always!

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