Pelias

Pelias was the king of Iolcus in Thessaly in Greek mythology, a son of Poseidon and Tyro. He sent his nephew Jason to fetch the Golden Fleece, hoping to be rid of him, and was himself killed on Medea’s advice by his own daughters after the Argonauts returned.

Birth and Family

Tyro, daughter of Salmoneus, loved the river Enipeus; Poseidon took the river’s shape and lay with her, and she bore the twins Pelias and Neleus. Homer says that both became strong servants of Zeus, and that Pelias lived in spacious Iolcus, rich in flocks, while Neleus lived in sandy Pylos (Homer, Odyssey 11.235–259). Apollodorus adds that Tyro exposed the babies; a passing horse-keeper’s mare kicked one of them and left a livid mark (pelion) on his face, and the horse-keeper reared them, naming the boy with the mark Pelias (Library 1.9.8).

When the twins had grown up they found their mother and killed Sidero, the stepmother who had ill-treated her. Sidero fled to the precinct of Hera, but Pelias cut her down on the very altars, and ever afterwards he treated Hera with contempt (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.8). The brothers later quarrelled, and Neleus was banished and founded Pylos (Library 1.9.9).

Apollodorus gives Pelias a wife, Anaxibia, daughter of Bias, though some said Phylomache, daughter of Amphion. His children were a son, Acastus, and daughters named Pisidice, Pelopia, Hippothoe and Alcestis (Library 1.9.10). Pausanias says no poet named the daughters, but the painter Micon wrote the names Asteropeia and Antinoe on their portraits (Pausanias 8.11.3).

The Oracle of the One Sandal

Pelias held the throne of Iolcus that belonged to the line of Aeson, Jason’s father. Pindar says Jason’s parents, afraid of Pelias’ violence, pretended that the baby had died and sent him secretly to be raised by Cheiron (Pindar, Pythian 4.109–115). When Pelias consulted the oracle about the kingdom, the god warned him to beware of the man with a single sandal (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.16; Pindar, Pythian 4.71–78; Apollonius, Argonautica 1.5–17). Apollodorus tells it this way: Pelias was sacrificing to Poseidon by the sea and summoned many people, among them Jason, who lost a sandal in the river Anaurus while crossing and arrived with one. Apollonius adds that the feast was for Poseidon and the other gods, but that Pelias took no heed of Pelasgian Hera (Argonautica 1.12–14). Pindar has Jason stand in the crowded market place of Iolcus, and Pelias recognise at once the single sandal on his right foot (Pythian 4.84–96).

Pelias asked Jason what he would do if he had an oracle that one of his citizens would murder him. Jason answered, perhaps by chance or perhaps moved by Hera, who wanted Medea to be the ruin of Pelias because he did not honour her, that he would send that man to fetch the Golden Fleece. Pelias then ordered Jason to go for it (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.16). In Pindar, Pelias gives a different reason: Phrixus’ ghost called for the fleece to be brought home, and Pelias swore to hand the kingdom to Jason on his return (Pythian 4.156–167). The fleece lay at Colchis in the grove of Ares, guarded by a sleepless dragon. The story of the voyage is told on the page of the Argonauts.

Aeson and the Return of the Argo

While the Argonauts were away, Pelias, despairing of their return, was ready to kill Aeson, but Aeson asked leave to take his own life and died after drinking bull’s blood at a sacrifice (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.27). Diodorus says a rumour that all Jason’s companions were dead made Pelias act: he forced Jason’s father to drink bull’s blood and murdered Jason’s young brother Promachus, and Jason’s mother, Amphinome, fled to the king’s hearth, cursed him and stabbed herself (Diodorus 4.50.1–2). Apollodorus too says Jason’s mother cursed Pelias and hanged herself, leaving an infant son, Promachus, whom Pelias killed (Library 1.9.27).

The Death of Pelias

When Jason came back with the fleece he wanted revenge, and Medea went to the palace of Pelias. Apollodorus says she persuaded his daughters to cut their father up and boil him, promising to make him young again with her drugs; to win their trust she cut up a ram and boiled it, and a lamb appeared. The daughters believed her, and Pelias was killed (Library 1.9.27). Pausanias gives the same outline: Medea cut Pelias up to boil him, what the daughters received back was not enough to bury, and this forced them to move to Arcadia, where their tombs were shown (Pausanias 8.11.2–3).

In Diodorus, Medea waited until Pelias slept at night. When the daughters refused to boil their father she produced a lamb out of a cauldron in which she had boiled an old ram, and they struck him dead. Only Alcestis, out of piety, refused to lay hands on him. Medea delayed the daughters on the roof with a long prayer to the moon while the Argonauts, seeing the signal fire, rushed into the palace (Diodorus 4.51–52). In Diodorus Jason then spared the daughters, gave the kingdom to Acastus, and later married the daughters to famous men, Alcestis, the eldest, to Admetus (Diodorus 4.53.1–2). Apollodorus ends with Acastus burying his father, with the help of the people of Iolcus, and expelling Jason and Medea from the city (Library 1.9.27). The funeral games for Pelias were famous; Pausanias saw them painted on the chest of Cypselus (Pausanias 5.17.9), and Atalanta and Peleus wrestled at them (Library 3.9.2).

Pelias Sources

Homer, Odyssey 11.235–259; Pindar, Pythian 4.71–167; Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.5–17; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.8–10, 1.9.16, 1.9.27, 3.9.2; Diodorus Siculus 4.50–53; Pausanias 5.17.9, 8.11.2–3.

See Also: Poseidon, Tyro, Neleus, Jason, Argonauts, Golden Fleece, Medea, Alcestis, Pelopia