Editing Pelias

{{Short description|King of Iolcus in Greek mythology}}
{{Other uses|Pelias (mythology)}}
{{Distinguish|Pelia (disambiguation){{!}}Pelia|Peleus}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Pelias
| deity_of = King of Iolcus
| member_of = the [[Deucalion]]ids
| image = Pelias Sending Forth Jason - Project Gutenberg eText 14994.png
| caption = Pelias sends forth [[Jason]], in an 1879 illustration from ''Stories from the Greek Tragedians'' by Alfred Church.
| alt = 
| other_names = 
| affiliation = 
| cult_center = 
| abode = Iolcus
| consort = [[Anaxibia]] or [[Phylomache]]
| parents = [[Poseidon]] and [[Tyro]]
| siblings = [[Neleus]], half-brothers: Aeson, [[Pheres]], and [[Amythaon]]
| offspring = [[Acastus]], [[Pisidice]], [[Alcestis]], [[Pelopia]], [[Hippothoe]], [[Amphinome]], [[Evadne]], [[Asteropeia (mythology)|Asteropeia]], [[Antinoe]] and [[Medusa (Greek myth)|Medusa]]
| predecessor = [[Aeson]]
| successor = [[Acastus]]
| Roman_equivalent = 
| Etruscan_equivalent = 
}}
[[File:Pelias meets Jason MAN Napoli Inv111436.jpg|thumb|Pelias, king of Iolcos, stops on the steps of a temple as he recognises young [[Jason]] by his missing sandal; Roman [[fresco]] from [[Pompeii]], 1st century AD.]]

'''Pelias''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|iː|l|i|æ|s}} {{respell|PEE|lee|ass}}; [[Ancient Greek]]: Πελίας) was king of [[Iolcus]] in [[Greek mythology]]. He was the one who sent [[Jason]] on the quest for the [[Golden Fleece]].

== Family ==
Pelias was the son of [[Tyro]] and [[Poseidon]]. His wife is recorded as either [[Anaxibia]], daughter of [[Bias (mythology)|Bias]], or [[Philomache|Phylomache]], daughter of [[Amphion]]. He was the father of [[Acastus]],<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.9.16&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelias 1.9.16]</ref> [[Pisidice]], [[Alcestis]], [[Pelopia]], [[Hippothoe]],<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.9.10&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=1:chapter=9&highlight=Alcestis 1.9.10]</ref> [[Amphinome]], [[Evadne]],<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus|Diodorus]], 4.53.2</ref> [[Asteropeia (mythology)|Asteropeia]], [[Antinoe]]<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], 8.11 3; note the contradiction to the account of the ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' (1.9.10), which informs that Pelias' daughters were four, [[Alcestis]], Hippothoe, Pelopia and Peisidice. Pausanias refers to the painter [[Micon]] for the names, and notes that the sisters were never mentioned by names in any poetic works known to him.</ref> and [[Medusa (Greek myth)|Medusa]].<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#24 24]</ref> These daughters are sometimes called collectively as ''[[Peliades]]'' after their father.

==Mythology==
===Early years===
Tyro was married to King [[Cretheus]] of Iolcus, with whom she had three sons, [[Aeson]], [[Pherês]], and [[Amythaon]], but she loved [[Enipeus (mythology)|Enipeus]], a river god. She pursued Enipeus, who refused her advances. One day, [[Poseidon]], filled with lust for Tyro, disguised himself as Enipeus and lay with her; from their union were born twin sons, Pelias and [[Neleus]].

Tyro exposed her sons on a mountain to die, but they were found by a herdsman 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 her stepmother [[Sidero]] for having mistreated her (Sidero hid in a temple dedicated 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]]. To this end, he banished Neleus and Pherês, and locked Aeson in the dungeons in [[Iolcus]] (by the modern city of [[Volos]]). While in the dungeons, Aeson married and had several children, most famously, [[Jason]]. Aeson sent Jason away from Iolcus in fear that Pelias would have him killed as a potential heir to the throne.

Jason grew in the care of [[Chiron]] the [[centaur]], on the slopes of [[Pelion|Mount Pelion]], to be educated while Pelias, fearing that he would be overthrown, was warned by an [[oracle]] to beware a man wearing one sandal.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t208.e820|title=York University Libraries|website=oxfordreference.com|year=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-515669-0 }}</ref>

===Quest for the Golden Fleece===
Many years later, Pelias offered a sacrifice by the sea in honor of Poseidon. Jason, who was summoned with many others to take part in the sacrifice, lost one of his sandals in the flooded river [[Anauros|Anaurus]] while rushing to Iolcus.  In [[Virgil]]'s [[Aeneid]] and Hyginus' Fabulae (13), [[Hera]]/[[Juno (mythology)|Juno]] disguised herself as an old woman, whom Jason helped across the river when he lost his sandal.

[[File:Pelias-Moreau.jpg|thumb|''The Murder of Pelias by His Daughters'', [[Georges Moreau de Tours]] (1878)]]

When Jason entered Iolcus, he was announced as a man wearing one sandal. Fearful, Pelias asked 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]].  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.<ref>Apollodorus The Library of Greek Mythology. Trans. Robin Hard. New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 1997. 48–49. {{ISBN?}}</ref>

Jason made preparations by commanding the shipwright [[Argus (son of Arestor)|Argus]] 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, [[Aeëtes]]. Aeëtes demanded that Jason must first yoke a pair of fire-breathing bulls to a plough and sow dragon's teeth into the earth. [[Medea]], daughter of Aeëtes, 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 journey home to Thessaly along with Medea's brother [[Absyrtus]].<ref>Collier, P. F. "Jason." Collier's Encyclopedia. Ed. William D. Halsey and Emanuel Friedman. 1981. 504–505.{{ISBN?}}</ref>

===Death of Pelias===

During Jason's absence, Pelias thought the ''Argo'' had sunk, and this was what he told Aeson and [[Promachus]], 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 (the [[Peliades]]) 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 into a pot, in the expectation that he would emerge rejuvenated. Pelias, of course, did not survive.

As he was now an accessory to a terrible crime, Jason was still not made king. Pelias' son [[Acastus]] later banished Jason and Medea, to [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]], and so reclaimed the kingdom.

An alternate telling of the story has Medea slitting the throat of Jason's father Aeson, who she then really ''does'' revive as a much younger man; Pelias' daughters then slit their father's throat after she promises to do the same for him, and she merely breaks her word and leaves him dead.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==

* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''The Library'' with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. {{ISBN|0-674-99135-4}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021 Greek text available from the same website].
* [[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica|The Library of History]]'' translated by [[Charles Henry Oldfather]]. Twelve volumes. [[Loeb Classical Library]]. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/home.html Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site]
* Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1–2''. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0540 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. [https://topostext.org/work/206 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. {{ISBN|0-674-99328-4}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]
* Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.  [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0159 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|Pelias}}

{{Argonautica}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Aeolides]]
[[Category:Characters in the Argonautica]]
[[Category:Children of Poseidon]]
[[Category:Fictional twins]]
[[Category:Kings of Iolcus]]
[[Category:Male film villains]]
[[Category:Male literary villains]]
[[Category:Princes in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Villains in mythology and legend]]