Heracles by Euripides - is an Athenian tragedy by Euripides that was first performed c. 416 BC. While Heracles is in the underworld obtaining Cerberus for one of his labours, his father Amphitryon, wife Megara, and children are sentenced to death in Thebes by Lycus. Heracles arrives in time to save them, though the goddesses Iris and Madness (personified) cause him to kill his wife and children in a frenzy. It is the second of two surviving tragedies by Euripides where the family of Heracles are suppliants (the first being Children of Heracles). It was first performed at the City Dionysia festival.In a prologue filled with genealogical detail, Amphitryon outlines the ancestral history of Heracles' and Lycus' families. Lycus is ruling Thebes unlawfully and is about to kill Amphitryon, and-because Megara is the daughter of the lawful king Creon-Herakles' wife Megara and their children. Heracles cannot help his family, for he is in Hades engaged in the last of his twelve labours: bringing back the monster Cerberus who guards the gates there. The family has taken refuge at the altar of Zeus; they are forbidden to enter their palace and are watched too closely to escape.