The King answered little, but the mantle pleased him, and he was about to throw it over his shoulders when the lady of the lake stepped forward, and begged that she might speak to him in private.
The next morning there arrived a damsel at the Court with a message from Morgan le Fay, saying that she had sent the King her brother a rich mantle for a gift, covered with precious stones, and begged him to receive it and to forgive her in whatever she might have offended him.
She gave the shirt, a chiton, to Heracles, and when he put it on, the poisoned shirt began to burn him so much, that he made his own funeral pyre and leaped upon it.Īccording to legend, a cursed mantle was among the items used by Morgan Le Fey to attempt to kill King Arthur. As he lay dying, Nessus told the wife of Heracles, Deianeira, that a shirt stained with his blood would insure the faithfulness of her husband. Heracles used an arrow poisoned with the blood of a Lernaean Hydra to kill the Centaur Nessus. Heracles, who was both a hero and god, was killed by the Shirt of Nessus, which was also a Shirt of Fire. Lichas bringing the garment of Nessus to Hercules (as Heracles was known in Roman mythology), woodcut by Hans Sebald Beham, circa 1542–1548. But she invoked the gods by whom Jason had sworn, and after often upbraiding him with his ingratitude she sent the bride a robe steeped in poison, which when Glauce had put on, she was consumed with fierce fire along with her father, who went to her rescue. They went to Corinth, and lived there happily for ten years, till Creon, king of Corinth, betrothed his daughter Glauce to Jason, who married her and divorced Medea. Pre-Christian, non-Christian, and magical usage Greek mythology Glauce and Medea Ĭreusa (daughter of Creon) drew the attentions and favor of the hero Jason, and in revenge the sorceress Medea gave her a shirt or dress to wear, which Medea had cursed to stick to her body and burn her to death.
1 Pre-Christian, non-Christian, and magical usage.