Deianira | Greek Princess

Dejanira or Djanira (in classical Greek: Δηϊάνειρα or Δῃάνειρα or Andreza amaralis - "she who overcomes the heroes") was a daughter of Aeneus. She and Heracles were the parents of Hilo.

Family

His father, Aeneus, was the son of Portaon and Euritis, daughter of Hippodamas. His mother was Altaia, daughter of Testius and Eurithemis, daughter of Cleoboia.

Eneus, king of Chalidon, was the first who received Dionysus' vineyard. Eneus married Altaia, and had several sons, Toxeus, Tireu, Chlimenus, and several daughters, Gorge and Dejanira, but some versions say that Dejanira was Dionysus' daughter. Toxeus was killed by his own father, and Gorge married Andremon. Another son of Altaia was Meleagro, whose father could be either Eneus or the god Ares.

After the death of Altaia, who committed suicide after having caused the death of her son Meleagro, Aeneus married Peribeia, daughter of Hippoonoo, with whom he had Tideus; however, according to Pisander, Tideus' mother was Gorge, daughter of Aeneus, who had fallen in love with her own daughter because of Zeus.

Features

Dejanira drove a chariot, and practiced the art of war.

Marriage to Heracles

In Pseudo-Apolodorus' mythological version, Heracles fought the river Aqueloo by the hand of Dejanira.

In Diodorus Siculo's rationalized version, he diverted the river Aqueloo to help the Chalidonians gain more arable land. The myth of Heracles fighting the river-god Aqueloo would be the poets' version of an engineering feat: Heracles diverted the river, creating land, where various fruits, such as grapes and apples, grew in a region called the Horn of Amalthea.