Admetus

Admetus drove a chariot around the race-course at Iolcus, with a wild boar and a lion yoked to it. Pelias had promised Alcestis, his daughter, to the man who could perform this feat. Many kings and princes wanted to marry Alcestis, so Pelias had set the condition to avoid choosing among them. Admetus had asked Apollo for help. Apollo was serving him as a herdsman, after Zeus had bound him to mortal service, and agreed because Admetus had treated him with due respect. Apollo had already rewarded him by making all his ewes bear twins. Heracles helped tame the beasts, and Admetus fulfilled Pelias's demand. He won Alcestis as his wife.

Later, Hermes came to the palace and summoned Admetus to Tartarus. Admetus was to die, but Apollo gained him a short reprieve. He made the Three Fates drunk, delaying the cutting of Admetus's life thread. Admetus then went to his aged parents. He clasped their knees and begged each of them to give him the remaining part of their life. Both refused. They said that life was still sweet, even in old age, and that Admetus should accept his allotted fate.

Alcestis then chose to die in her husband's place. She took poison, and her ghost descended to Tartarus. Persephone judged it wrong for a wife to die instead of her husband. She ordered Alcestis back to the upper air, restoring the queen to her family.

Another account says that Hades came himself to take Admetus. When Admetus fled, Alcestis offered to replace him. Heracles arrived with a new wild-olive club and rescued her. In another telling, Alcestis died from a sickness that matched Admetus's recovery. Admetus buried her, and Heracles, who had come to the palace, descended into the tomb and held Death until he promised to return her.