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Homer mentions only briefly the death of Heracles, without giving details (Iliad, XVIII: 117-119): "Even the mighty Heracles could not escape death...". The death of the Greek hero, however, is more extensively narrated in the one of the tragedies of the great tragedian Sophocles (496-406 b. C.): Trachiniai. The title of this tragedy refers to the women of the town of Trachis, where Heracles lived together with his wife Deianeira. In the prologue, Deianeira complains that Heracles' occupation as paladin demands incessant travel. She has not heard from him in more than one year and fears that he has been killed. In that time, a herald arrives with a band of women, sent by Heracles, who have taken them captive. Among them, there is Iole, the daughter of Eurytus, king of Oechalia. Heracles loves her and took her captive, after having slayed her father in battle. On learning that Iole has replaced her in Heracles' affections, Deianeira has recourse to a love charm. The centaur Nessos, as he was dying hit by a poisoned arrow of Heracles, gave her some of his blood, promising that if ever her husband's affections should stray, this blood would serve to recall them. Deianeira, deceived by the centaur, sends Heracles a ceremonial robe treated with Nessos' blood. When Heracles wears the vest given him by his wife, the irreparable posthumous revenge of the wicked centaur comes off. Heracles sweats copiously, the vest clung to the surface of his body. He suffers excruciating pains in his bones, then in his chest (lines 767-778); the vest sticks to his skin and melts the flesh away, then the evil attacks his lungs, consuming his blood and sowing corruption in every part of his body (lines 1053-1057). When Deianeira hears what have happened, kills herself, while Heracles begs his son Hyllos to put an end to his mortal life, recalling the prophecy that he would be killed by hand of no living enemy. Then he climbs the funeral pyre to die. The death of Heracles was therefore caused by a "poison", contained in the Nessos' blood, which in turn had been poisoned by an arrow that Heracles himself had treated with the venom of the hydra; the vehicle by which the poison was transmitted was the vest. In ancient times, toxic and infectious agents were not distinguished, and it is probable that an infectious agent, rather than a toxic one, caused Heracles' disease and his death. In the classic literature, a clear reference to an infectious disease transmitted by a garment can be found in Virgil's Georgic. In the III book, in fact, the Latin poet mentions an epizootic disease affecting sheeps, cattle and horses. Virgil does not name the disease, however, it can be identified with anthrax, an illness caused by B. anthracis, affecting several warm-blooded animals and men. The identification of a disease by ancient texts, written by non medical authors, is not easy, nor certain. However, all references contained in the Sophoclean text are in agreement with the hypothesis that Heracles' disease may be a cutaneous form of anthrax, provoked by the contact of an infected garment, followed by a sistemic diffusion of the infection with toxemia

(from JH Dirckx: The death of Heracles. An inquest. Am. J. Dermatopathol. 13: 310-316, 1991)

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