Admete (Ancient Greek: Ἀδμήτη) is a character in Greek mythology from the Argive cycle, the daughter of Eurystheus. She is mentioned in sources in connection with the ninth labor of Heracles (Hercules). According to one version of the myth, she was a priestess of Hera on Samos. A princess from Mycenae, Admete was a figure in Greek mythology. From her parents, King Eurystheus and Antimache, she had six siblings: Alexander, Iphimedon, Eurybius, Mentor, Perimedes, and Eurypylus.
Admete in Mythology
Admete was the daughter of Eurystheus, who ruled in Argolis, from the lineage of the Perseids, and his wife Antimache. According to Pseudo-Apollodorus, the princess desired to obtain the girdle of the Amazon queen Hippolyta, once belonging to the war god Ares. To achieve this, her father sent the relative Heracles on a mission to retrieve the girdle. Heracles successfully completed the task, thus accomplishing one of his labors. John Tzetzes writes that Admete accompanied Heracles on his quest for the girdle of Hippolyta on the Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea).
The reward for the various labors was to be Princess Admeta herself, as the hero’s bride.
Admete is also mentioned in “The Banquet of the Learned” by Athenaeus. According to this author, she was forced to flee from Argolis to Samos, where she became a priestess of the goddess Hera. The Argives hired Etruscan pirates to steal a wooden statue of Hera from the Samian temple.
It was planned that the locals would blame Admete for the disappearance of the statue and kill her. However, the pirates couldn’t sail away with the statue and abandoned it on the shore. Admete, after performing purification rituals, returned the statue to its place. This event is connected by the Samians to the origin of the festival of Tonya, which existed in historical times.
An ancient vase with a black-figure painting has survived, depicting Admete present at the handover of the Erymanthian boar by Heracles to Eurystheus. According to the authors, another Admeta or Admete was also a nymph, precisely an oceanic one. Admete is also one of the many names given to Athena. When Heracles succeeded, Eurystheus was happy to give the mythical girdle to his daughter, Admete.
Admete in Astronomy
Admete means “the unbroken, unwedded, untamed” in Ancient Greek and it is a feminine version of Admetus. Admete is one of the 136 Greek mythological figures behind asteroid names. In honor of Admete, an asteroid (398) Admete was named, discovered in 1894.
