Nephele

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Nephele

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....
, Nephele (from Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: nephos, "cloud", Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
ized to Nubes) was a cloud nymph

Nymph

In Greek mythology, a nymph is any member of a large class of mythological entities in human form. They were typically associated with a particular location or landform....
who figured prominently in the story of 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....
.

Greek myth also has it that Nephele is the cloud whom Zeus

Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
created in the image of 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....
to trick Ixion

Ixion

In Greek mythology, Ixion was king of the Lapiths, the most ancient tribe of Thessaly, and a son of Ares or Antion or the notorious evildoer Phlegyas, whose name connotes "fiery"....
, since he tried to rape

Rape

Rape, also referred to as sexual assault, is an assault by a person involving sexual intercourse with or sexual penetration of another person without that person's consent....
the goddess. Ixion and Nephele gave birth to the Centaurs which were helped by their own mother during their struggle against Heracles

Heracles

In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles meaning "glory of Hera", or "Glorious through Hera" Alcides or Alcaeus " was a hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus....
.

Nephele married Athamus, but he divorced her for 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 ....
.

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In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: nephos, "cloud", Latin

Latin

Nymph

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)

Zeus

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....
to trick Ixion

Ixion

Rape

Heracles

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 ....
. Phrixus, son of Athamas and Nephele, along with his twin 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

Oracle

An oracle is a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophecy opinion; an infallible authority, usually Spirituality in nature....
for assistance. Ino bribed the men sent to the oracle to lie and tell the others that the oracle required the sacrifice of Phrixus. Before he was killed though, Phrixus and Helle were rescued by a flying golden ram sent by Nephele, their natural mother.

Phrixus and Helle were instructed to not look down to earth for the duration of their flight. Helle though, did look down, and 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, meaning Sea of Helle) and drowned, 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 Aeetes

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 Aeetes hung in a tree in his kingdom. The golden fleece would later be taken by Jason

Jason

Jason was a late ancient Greece Greek mythology figure, famous as the leader of the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcus....
.

Nephele

See also