Alcmene

Alcmene is presented in the classical tradition as daughter of Electryon (grandson of Perseus) and wife of Amphitryon. In the best-known strand she becomes the mother of Heracles after Zeus, disguised as Amphitryon, sleeps with her; different sources preserve variant birth narratives. Homer emphasizes Hera's obstruction so that Eurystheus is born first; Ovid and Pausanias recount that attendants (Galanthis or Historis) tricked the childbirth deity (Lucina/Eileithyia) or witches sent by Hera to release Alcmene and permit Heracles' birth. Other authors preserve further variants (e.g., a painless birth in Plautus).

Classical descriptions (as cited from Hesiod in summary) praise Alcmene as exceptionally tall and beautiful, "the tallest, most beautiful woman with wisdom surpassed by no person born of mortal parents," with a face and dark eyes comparable to Aphrodite's. Later sources sometimes present her as an aging matron in narratives of her later life; no consistent costume or ritual garb is recorded in the provided material.

Classical sources do not attribute supernatural powers to Alcmene herself. Her notable capacities are mortal virtues and narrative roles: fidelity and honor as Amphitryon's wife, endurance through an extraordinarily difficult labor, maternal agency as mother of Heracles, and— in some later traditions—capacity for violent vengeance (for example, an account in which she gouges out Eurystheus' eyes). She is primarily a human figure acted upon by gods (Zeus and Hera) rather than a divine actor.