Aetolian princess of Calydon, daughter of King Oeneus and Althaea (or by some accounts of Dionysus by Althaea). Heracles's second wife, won by him in single combat against the river-god Achelous. Mother of Hyllus and several other children including Macaria. The Sophoclean Trachiniae makes her the unwitting agent of Heracles's death — she sent the Nessus-blood-soaked shirt believing the centaur's dying claim that it was a love-philtre that would restore Heracles's affection from the captive Iole; the centaur-blood was poisoned with Hydra-venom from the arrow Heracles had killed Nessus with, and the resulting agony drove Heracles to the pyre on Mount Oeta. On learning what she had done, Deianira hanged herself in their bedchamber. The Sophoclean treatment turns her into one of the great unwitting-tragic-agents of the Greek canon — innocent intent, catastrophic effect, terminal recognition.