Pelias
Encyclopedia
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
, the son of Tyro
Tyro
In Greek mythology, Tyro was the daughter of Salmoneus and married Cretheus, but loved Enipeus. She gave birth to Pelias and Neleus, the twin sons of Poseidon. With Cretheus she had Aeson, Pheres, and Amythaon....
and Poseidon
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
. His wife is recorded as either Anaxibia
Anaxibia
Anaxibia is the name of five characters in Greek mythology.*Anaxibia, the daughter of Bias and Iphianassa, and niece of Melampus. She married Pelias, to whom she bore Acastus, Pisidice, Pelopia, Hippothoe, Alcestis, and Medusa...
, daughter of Bias
Bias (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Bias was a brother of Melampus who received one third of Argos . Bias married his cousin Pero and had one child, Talaus, with her. When Pero died he remarried Iphianassa, daughter of Proetus, after Melampus had cured her from madness. He received one third of Proetus's kingdom...
, or Phylomache, daughter of Amphion
Amphion
There are several characters named Amphion in Greek mythology:* Amphion, son of Zeus and Antiope, and twin brother of Zethus . Together they are famous for building Thebes. Amphion married Niobe, and killed himself after the loss of his wife and children at the hands of Apollo and Artemis...
. He was the father of Acastus
Acastus
Acastus is a character in Greek mythology. He sailed with Jason and the Argonauts, and participated in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar.-Biography:Acastus was the son of Pelias, then king of Iolcus, and Anaxibia ....
, Pisidice
Pisidice
In Greek mythology, Pisidice or Peisidike was one of the following individuals:* A daughter of Pelias, who, together with her sisters, killed their father, as Medea tricked them into believing this was needed to rejuvenate him....
, Alcestis
Alcestis
Alcestis is a princess in Greek mythology, known for her love of her husband. Her story was popularised in Euripides's tragedy Alcestis. She was the daughter of Pelias, king of Iolcus, and either Anaxibia or Phylomache....
, Pelopia
Pelopia
In Greek mythology, Pelopia was a name attributed to four individuals:- Daughter of Thyestes :Pelopia, less commonly known as Mnesiphae, was the daughter of Thyestes. Thyestes had been fighting with his brother, Atreus, for the throne of Mycenae for some time, as well as having an affair with...
, Hippothoe
Hippothoe
In Greek mythology, Hippothoe is the name of five distinct characters.* Hippothoe, daughter of Mestor, son of Perseus, and of Lysidice, daughter of Pelops. Poseidon abducted Hippothoe from her family and took her to the Echinades islands. Upon her he sired Taphius who later founded the city of...
, Asteropia, and Antinoe.
Tyro was married to Cretheus
Cretheus
In Greek mythology, Cretheus or Krētheus was the king and founder of Iolcus, the son of Aeolus and Enarete. His wives were Tyro and either Demodice or Biadice. With Tyro, he fathered Aeson, Pheres, and Amythaon...
(with whom she had three sons, (Aeson
Aeson
In Greek mythology, Aeson or Aison was the son of Cretheus and Tyro, who also had his brothers Pheres and Amythaon. Aeson was the father of Jason and Promachus with Polymede, the daughter of Autolycus. Other sources say the mother of his children was Alcimede or Amphinome...
, Pherês
Pheres
In Greek mythology, Pheres , son of Cretheus and Tyro and brother of Aeson and Amythaon, was the founder of Pherae in Thessaly. He fled there from Iolcus after his half-brother, Pelias, seized the throne...
, and Amythaon
Amythaon
Amythaon is the Ancient Greek god of transportation.A son of Cretheus and Tyro and brother of Aeson and Pheres, he dwelt at Pylos in Messenia, and by Idomene, his niece, or by Aglaia became the father of Bias, Melampus, and Aeolia. According to Pindar, he and several other members of his family...
) but loved Enipeus
Enipeus
In Greek mythology, Enipeus was a river god, son of Oceanus and Tethys. Enipeus was loved by a mortal woman named Tyro, who was married to a mortal man named Cretheus. She pursued Enipeus, who refused her advances. One day, Poseidon, filled with lust for Tyro, disguised himself as Enipeus and...
, a river god. She pursued Enipeus, who refused her advances. One day, Poseidon, filled with lust for Tyro, disguised himself as Enipeus and from their union was born Pelias and Neleus
Neleus
Neleus was the son of Poseidon and Tyro and brother of Pelias. Tyro was married to Cretheus but loved Enipeus, a river god. She pursued Enipeus, who refused her advances. One day, Poseidon, filled with lust for Tyro, disguised himself as Enipeus and from their union was born Pelias and Neleus,...
, twin boys. Tyro exposed her sons on a mountain to die, but they were found by a herdsmen who raised them as his own, as one story goes, or they were raised by a maid. When they reached adulthood, Pelias and Neleus found Tyro and killed their stepmother, Sidero
Sidero
In Greek mythology, Sidero was the second wife of Salmoneus and stepmother of Tyro. Sidero mistreated Tyro. When Pelias and Neleus, Tyro's twin sons, reached adulthood they sought revenge. Although Sidero fled from them into Hera's district, Pelias nevertheless murdered her atop the altar to Hera....
, for having mistreated her. Sidero hid in a temple to Hera but Pelias killed her anyway, causing Hera's undying hatred of Pelias. Pelias was power-hungry and he wished to gain dominion over all of Thessaly
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
. To this end, he banished Neleus and Pheres, and locked Aeson in the dungeons in Iolcus. While in the dungeons, Aeson married and had several children, most famously, Jason
Jason
Jason was a late ancient Greek mythological hero from the late 10th Century BC, 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...
. Aeson sent Jason away from Iolcus in fear that Pelias would kill him as an heir to the throne. Jason grew in the care of Chiron
Chiron
In Greek mythology, Chiron was held to be the superlative centaur among his brethren.-History:Like the satyrs, centaurs were notorious for being wild and lusty, overly indulgent drinkers and carousers, given to violence when intoxicated, and generally uncultured delinquents...
the centaur
Centaur
In Greek mythology, a centaur or hippocentaur is a member of a composite race of creatures, part human and part horse...
, on Mount Pelium
Pelion
Pelion or Pelium is a mountain at the southeastern part of Thessaly in central Greece, forming a hook-like peninsula between the Pagasetic Gulf and the Aegean Sea...
, to be educated while Pelias, paranoid that he would be overthrown, was warned by an oracle
Oracle
In Classical Antiquity, an oracle was a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophetic predictions or precognition of the future, inspired by the gods. As such it is a form of divination....
to beware a man wearing one sandal.
Many years later, Pelias was holding the Olympics and offered a sacrifice by the sea in honor of Poseidon when Jason, who was summoned with many others to take part in the sacrifice, rushing to Iolcus (by the modern city of Volos
Volos
Volos is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about 326 km north of Athens and 215 km south of Thessaloniki...
) lost one of his sandals in the flooded river Anaurus. In Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
's Aeneid
Aeneid
The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is composed of roughly 10,000 lines in dactylic hexameter...
, Hera
Hera
Hera was the wife and one of three sisters of Zeus in the Olympian pantheon of Greek mythology and religion. Her chief function was as the goddess of women and marriage. Her counterpart in the religion of ancient Rome was Juno. The cow and the peacock were sacred to her...
had diguised herself as an old woman, whom Jason helped across the river when he lost his sandal. When Jason entered Iolcus, he was announced as a man wearing one sandal. Paranoid, Pelias asked him (Jason) what he would do if confronted with the man who would be his downfall. Jason responded that he would send that man after the Golden Fleece
Golden Fleece
In Greek mythology, the Golden Fleece is the fleece of the gold-haired winged ram, which can be procured in Colchis. It figures in the tale of Jason and his band of Argonauts, who set out on a quest by order of King Pelias for the fleece in order to place Jason rightfully on the throne of Iolcus...
. Pelias took Jason's advice and sent him to retrieve the Golden Fleece. It would be found at Colchis, in a grove sacred to Ares, the God of War. Though the Golden Fleece simply hung on an oak tree, this was a seemingly impossible task, as an ever-watchful dragon guarded it.
Jason made preparations by commanding Argos to build a ship large enough for fifty men, which he would eventually call “The Argo.” These heroes who would join his quest were known as the Argonauts. Upon their arrival Jason requested the Golden Fleece from the King of Colchis, Aeëtus. Aeëtus demanded that Jason must first yoke a pair of fire-breathing bulls to a plough and sow the dragon’s mouth shut. Medea, daughter of Aeëtus, fell in love with Jason, and being endowed with magical powers aided him in his completion of the difficult task. She cast a spell to put the dragon to sleep, enabling Jason to obtain the Golden Fleece from the oak tree. Jason, Medea, and the Argonauts fled Colchis and began their return journey to Thessaly.
During Jason's absence, Pelias thought the Argo
Argo
In Greek mythology, the Argo was the ship on which Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to retrieve the Golden Fleece. It was named after its builder, Argus.-Legend:...
had sunk, and this was what he told Aeson and Promachus
Promachus
Promachus is a name that refers to several different people.-Mythology:*Son of Aeson and Alcimede, killed by Pelias along with his father while his brother, Jason, searched for the Golden Fleece....
, who committed suicide by drinking poison. However, it is unknown but possible that the two were both killed directly by Pelias. When Jason and Medea returned, Pelias still refused to give up his throne. Medea conspired to have Pelias' own daughters (Peliades
Peliades
In Greek mythology, the Peliades were the daughters of Pelias.Euripides entitled his earliest known tragedy Peliades; he entered it into the Dionysia of 455 BC but did not win....
) kill him. She told them she could turn an old ram into a young ram by cutting up the old ram and boiling it. During the demonstration, a live, young ram jumped out of the pot. Excited, the girls cut their father into pieces and threw them in a pot, in the expectation that he would emerge rejuvenated. Pelias did not survive. As he was now an accessory to a terrible crime, Jason was still not made king. Pelias' son Acastus
Acastus
Acastus is a character in Greek mythology. He sailed with Jason and the Argonauts, and participated in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar.-Biography:Acastus was the son of Pelias, then king of Iolcus, and Anaxibia ....
later drove Jason and Medea to Corinth and so reclaimed the kingdom.