Deianira was an ancient princess of Calydon, daughter of Oeneus and Althaea, and was also known as the second wife of Heracles.
History
Birth and Early Life
Deianira was born in Calydon, the daughter of King Oeneus and Queen Althaea. Deianeira was trained in combat and chariot driving.
Double Marriage Proposal
Due to her extraordinary beauty, Deianeria was courted by all the men of Calydon, but of all of them the river god Achelous stood out the most, who began to court her and she almost agreed to marry him if it were not for the fact that Hercules came to Calydon to ask for her hand.
Deianeria, who fell madly in love with Hercules' beauty, immediately agreed to marry him, although Hercules, fearing that Achelous would decide to intervene, decided to fight him, defeating him. Hercules and Deianeria eventually married and had numerous children.
Kidnapping attempt and deception
Deianeria and Hercules were walking near the River Evernus, which was controlled by the centaur Nessus, who offered visitors to cross for a fee. Seeing Deianeria's beauty, Neso fell in love with her and cunningly tricked Hercules into swimming across the river while he carried Deianeria on her back.
While crossing the river Nessus quickly began to run with the princess on his back, Hercules heard her screams and went to save her, with one of his arrows he shot Nessus in the side and as the arrows were poisoned with the poison of the Hydra, Nessus began to die.
Before Nessus died, he tricked Deianeria into mixing her blood with the waters of the river under the pretext of creating a love potion for Hercules if he stopped loving her. Deianeria, knowing how popular Hercules was with women, accepted without hesitation.
Incident and Death
The couple ended up in Trachis where they stayed for a while but rumors began to circulate that Hercules had fallen in love with Iole, the local princess, and that he wanted to ask for her hand in marriage. Deianeria, fearing that her loved one would leave her, decided to use Nessus' potion.
Deianeria rubbed the potion with the cloak that Hercules was going to wear to the palace that same day. When he put it on after making an offering, the cloak caught fire from being so close to the flames, causing Hercules to burn alive. Due to the Hydra's poison, Hercules was unable to remove his cloak and each time he did so he tore his own flesh until he finally died painfully. Deianeria, with her broken heart, could not bear the guilt of her husband's death and committed suicide by hanging herself (in other versions of her stabbing her heart with a dagger.
The Heroes of Olympus
The Mark of Athena
When Piper and Jason met Achelous, he showed them a photo of Deianeira and told them her story, which left Piper horrified and worried that if she stayed with Jason she would be destined to suffer a fate equal to or worse than Deianeira's.
Apperance
Deianeira was described as an incredibly beautiful woman with smooth tanned skin, long dark brown hair, brown eyes and a mischievous smile capable of driving men crazy just by looking at her.