what is the story in classical mythology where is is a mans turn to die, hes not ready, so his wife steps in?

Question

there is a story in greek mythology where a man i sset to die but hes isnt ready to die so he looks for other peole who will die for him an d everone refuses but his wife. Over time, he comes to see how perfect she is and regrets the fact that she has to die soon. can someone PLEASE tell me the names of this story????

Answer 1

Admetus was the king, Alcestis was his wife, and Hercules saves Alcestis from dying by wrestling Death and winning, and they lived happily ever after (well, not Hercules), until the next time they were about to die.

Answer 2

Alcestis, is the wife's name. The story was made famous by the Athenian playwright Euripides who wrote a play entitled "Alcestis."

The plot was that the god Apollo revealed to King Admetus of Pherae that he was destined to die on such and such a day. But the god who was a friend of the man made the Fates drunk and persuaded them to accept another in his place. The king turned to his parents, who both refused, but his dedicated wife Alcestis agreed to die in his place. When the time came, Thanatus (the god of death) came to fetch her, but Heracles who was passing through the kingdom at the time, intervened, wrestled with Death and won. He returned Alcestis to her husband and they lived happily ever after. They had a son named Eumelus who fought in the Trojan War.

Answer 3

That sounds kind of like King Sisyphus, the guy that eventually was punished by being forced to roll a stone up a hill in Hades only for it to roll back down and he would have to start over.