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Athamas is also a genus of jumping spiders.


The king of Orchomenus in Greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, Athamas , was married first to the goddess Nephele
Nephele

In Greek mythology, Nephele was a cloud nymph who figured prominently in the story of Phrixus and Helle .Greek myth also has it that Nephele is the cloud whom Zeus created in the image of Hera to trick Ixion, since he tried to rape the goddess....
 with whom he had the twins Phrixus
Phrixus

File:Phrixos und Helle.jpgIn Greek mythology, Phrixus was the son of Athamus, king of Boeotia and Nephele . His twin sister Helle and him were hated by their stepmother, Ino....
 and Helle
Helle (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Helle figured prominently in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. Phrixus, son of Athamus and Nephele, along with his twin sister, Helle, were hated by their stepmother, Ino....
. He later divorced Nephele and married Ino
Ino (Greek mythology)

In Greek mythology Ino was a mortal queen of Thebes , the second wife of Athamas, the mother of Learches and Melicertes, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia and stepmother of Phrixus and Helle ....
, daughter of Cadmus
Cadmus

Cadmus or Kadmos , in Greek mythology mythology, was a Phoenician prince, the son of Agenor and the brother of Phoenix , Cilix and Europa ....
. With Ino, he had two children: Learches
Learches

In Greek mythology, Learches was a son of Athamas and Ino. He was killed by his father, who had been driven insane by Hera as punishment for having raised Dionysus, Zeus's son by Semele....
 and Melicertes
Melicertes

In Greek mythology, Melicertes is the son of the Boeotian prince Athamas and Ino, daughter of Cadmus.Ino, pursued by her husband, who had been driven mad by Hera because Ino had brought up the infant Dionysus, threw herself and Melicertes into the sea from a high rock between Megara and Corinth, Greece, Both were changed into marine deitie...
. Athamas also had a brother, Salmoneus
Salmoneus

In Greek mythology, Salmoneus was the son of Aeolus and Enarete, the brother of Athamas, Sisyphus and the father of Tyro. Salmoneus became King of Elis and founded the city of Salmaneo....
, who was the father of Tyro
Tyro

In Greek mythology, Tyro was the daughter of Salmoneus and mother of Pelias and Neleus. Her father, Salmoneus, was the brother of Athamus and Sisyphus....
.

Phrixus
Phrixus

File:Phrixos und Helle.jpgIn Greek mythology, Phrixus was the son of Athamus, king of Boeotia and Nephele . His twin sister Helle and him were hated by their stepmother, Ino....
 and Helle were hated by their stepmother, Ino.






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Athamas is also a genus of jumping spiders.


The king of Orchomenus in Greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, Athamas , was married first to the goddess Nephele
Nephele

In Greek mythology, Nephele was a cloud nymph who figured prominently in the story of Phrixus and Helle .Greek myth also has it that Nephele is the cloud whom Zeus created in the image of Hera to trick Ixion, since he tried to rape the goddess....
 with whom he had the twins Phrixus
Phrixus

File:Phrixos und Helle.jpgIn Greek mythology, Phrixus was the son of Athamus, king of Boeotia and Nephele . His twin sister Helle and him were hated by their stepmother, Ino....
 and Helle
Helle (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Helle figured prominently in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. Phrixus, son of Athamus and Nephele, along with his twin sister, Helle, were hated by their stepmother, Ino....
. He later divorced Nephele and married Ino
Ino (Greek mythology)

In Greek mythology Ino was a mortal queen of Thebes , the second wife of Athamas, the mother of Learches and Melicertes, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia and stepmother of Phrixus and Helle ....
, daughter of Cadmus
Cadmus

Cadmus or Kadmos , in Greek mythology mythology, was a Phoenician prince, the son of Agenor and the brother of Phoenix , Cilix and Europa ....
. With Ino, he had two children: Learches
Learches

In Greek mythology, Learches was a son of Athamas and Ino. He was killed by his father, who had been driven insane by Hera as punishment for having raised Dionysus, Zeus's son by Semele....
 and Melicertes
Melicertes

In Greek mythology, Melicertes is the son of the Boeotian prince Athamas and Ino, daughter of Cadmus.Ino, pursued by her husband, who had been driven mad by Hera because Ino had brought up the infant Dionysus, threw herself and Melicertes into the sea from a high rock between Megara and Corinth, Greece, Both were changed into marine deitie...
. Athamas also had a brother, Salmoneus
Salmoneus

In Greek mythology, Salmoneus was the son of Aeolus and Enarete, the brother of Athamas, Sisyphus and the father of Tyro. Salmoneus became King of Elis and founded the city of Salmaneo....
, who was the father of Tyro
Tyro

In Greek mythology, Tyro was the daughter of Salmoneus and mother of Pelias and Neleus. Her father, Salmoneus, was the brother of Athamus and Sisyphus....
.

Phrixus
Phrixus

File:Phrixos und Helle.jpgIn Greek mythology, Phrixus was the son of Athamus, king of Boeotia and Nephele . His twin sister Helle and him were hated by their stepmother, Ino....
 and Helle were hated by their stepmother, Ino. Ino hatched a devious plot to get rid of the twins, roasting all the town's crop seeds so they would not grow. The local farmers, frightened of famine, asked a nearby oracle for assistance. Ino bribed the men sent to the oracle to lie and tell the others that the oracle required the sacrifice of Phrixus. Athamas reluctantly agreed. Before he was killed, though, Phrixus and Helle were rescued by a flying golden ram sent by Nephele, their natural mother. Helle fell off the ram into the Hellespont
Hellespont

Hellespont was the ancient name of the narrow strait, now known by the modern European term 'Dardanelles'. It was so called from Helle , the daughter of Athamas, who was drowned here in the mythology of the Golden Fleece....
 (which was named after her) and died, but Phrixus survived all the way to Colchis
Colchis

In ancient geography, Colchis or Kolkhis was an ancient Georgia , state monarchy and region in the Western Georgia , which played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the Georgians and its subgroups....
, where King Aeëtes
Aeëtes

In Greek mythology, Ae?tes was a son of the king-god Helios and the nymph Perseis , brother of Circe and Pasiphae, and father of Medea, Chalciope and Apsyrtus....
 took him in and treated him kindly, giving Phrixus his daughter Chalciope
Chalciope

Chalciope was a princess in Greek mythology, daughter of King Aeetes of Colchis, sister of Medea and wife of Phrixus. Phrixus, son of Athamus and Nephele, along with his twin Helle , were hated by their stepmother, Ino....
 in marriage. In gratitude, Phrixus gave the king the golden fleece
Golden Fleece

In Greek mythology, the Golden Fleece is the fleece of the winged ram Chrysomallos . It figures in the tale of Jason and his band of Argonauts, who set out on a quest for the fleece in order to place Jason rightfully on the throne of Iolcus in Thessaly....
 of the ram, which Aeëtes hung in a tree in his kingdom.

Later, Ino raised Dionysus
Dionysus

In classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos , is the God of wine, the inspirer of ritual madness and ecstasy, and a major figure of Greek mythology, and one of the twelve Olympians, among whom Greek mythology treated Dionysus as a late arrival....
, her nephew, son of her sister Semele
Semele

File:Gustave Moreau 004.jpgIn Greek mythology, Semele, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia , was the mortal mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths....
, causing Hera
Hera

In the Twelve Olympians of classical Greek Mythology, Hera or Here was the wife and older sister of Zeus. Her chief function was as goddess of women and marriage....
's intense jealousy. In vengeance, Hera struck Athamas with insanity. Athamas went mad and slew one of his sons, Learchus; Ino, to escape the pursuit of her frenzied husband, threw herself into the sea with her son Melicertes
Melicertes

In Greek mythology, Melicertes is the son of the Boeotian prince Athamas and Ino, daughter of Cadmus.Ino, pursued by her husband, who had been driven mad by Hera because Ino had brought up the infant Dionysus, threw herself and Melicertes into the sea from a high rock between Megara and Corinth, Greece, Both were changed into marine deitie...
. Both were afterwards worshipped as marine divinities, Ino as Leucothea
Leucothea

In Greek mythology, Leucothea was one of the aspects under which an ancient sea goddess was recognized. Mythic themes agree that she was a transformed nymph....
, Melicertes as Palaemon
Palaemon

Palaemon may refer to*Palaemon , a genus of shrimp*An alternative name for the Greek hero Herakles*An alternative name for the Greek hero Melicertes...
.

Athamas, with the guilt of his son's murder upon him, was obliged to flee from Boeotia
Boeotia

Boeotia, Beotia, or B?otia , formerly Cadmeis, was a region of ancient Greece, north of the eastern part of the Gulf of Corinth. It was bounded on the south by Megaris and the Kithairon mountain range that forms a natural barrier with Attica, on the north by Opuntian Locris and the Euripus Strait at the Gulf of Euboea, and on the...
. He was ordered by the oracle to settle in a place where he should receive hospitality from wild beasts. This he found at Phthiotis
Phthiotis

Phthiotis is one of the prefectures of Greece. The capital is the city of Lamia . It is bordered by the Maliac Gulf to the east, Boeotia in the south, Phocis in the south, Aetolia-Acarnania in the southwest, Eurytania in the west, Karditsa Prefecture in the north, Larissa Prefecture in the north, and Magnesia in the northeast....
 in Thessaly
Thessaly

Thessaly is one of the 13 Peripheries of Greece of Greece, and is further sub-divided into 4 Prefectures of Greece. The capital of the periphery and traditional Regions of Greece is Larissa....
, where he surprised some wolves eating sheep; on his approach they fled, leaving him the bones. Athamas, regarding this as the fulfilment of the oracle, settled there and married a third wife, Themisto
Themisto

In Greek mythology, Themisto was the third and last wife of Athamas. According to Apollodorus, she had five children by him: Leucon, Erythrius, Schoeneus, Ptous, and Porphyrion....
 (son: Schoeneus
Schoeneus

In Greek mythology, Schoeneus was the name of several individuals:#Schoeneus was a Boeotian king, the son of Athamas and Themisto. He was the father of Atalanta by Clymene....
). The spot was afterwards called the Athamanian plain. When Athamas returned to his second wife, Ino, Themisto
Themisto

In Greek mythology, Themisto was the third and last wife of Athamas. According to Apollodorus, she had five children by him: Leucon, Erythrius, Schoeneus, Ptous, and Porphyrion....
 sought revenge by dressing her children in white clothing and Ino's in black. Ino switched their clothes without Themisto's knowledge, and she killed her own children.

According to some accounts, Athamas was succeeded on the throne by Presbon.