Irlandos: New page: '''Acastus''' is a character in Greek mythology. He sailed with Jason and the Argonauts, and participated in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar. Hornblower...

2007-08-22T09:23:54Z

New page: '''Acastus''' is a character in Greek mythology. He sailed with Jason and the Argonauts, and participated in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar.<ref name="OCD"> Hornblower...

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'''Acastus''' is a character in [[Greek mythology]]. He sailed with [[Jason]] and the [[Argonauts]], and participated in the hunt for the [[Calydonian Boar]].<ref name="OCD">
Hornblower, Simon Acastus The Oxford Classical Dictionary pages = 3 Oxford University Press, Oxford (1996)</ref>

==Biography==
Acastus was the son of [[Pelias]], then king of [[Iolcos|Iolcus]], and [[Anaxibia]] (Philomache in some traditions).

After the return of the Argonauts, Acastus' sisters were seduced by [[Medea]] to cut their father Pelias in pieces and boil them. Acastus, when he heard this, buried his father, and drove Jason and Medea from Iolcus (and, according to [[Pausanias]], his sisters also),<ref>[[Pausanias]] vii. 11</ref> and instituted funeral games in honor of his father.<ref>Hygin. Fab. 24 and 273 ; Apollod. i. 9. § 27, &c.; Paus. iii. 18. § 9, vi. 20. § 9, v. 17. § 4 ; Ov. Met. xi. 409, &c.</ref><ref name="DGRBM">''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'' by William Smith (1867).</ref> He thereafter became king of Iolcus.

Acastus purifed [[Peleus]] of the murder of [[Eurytion|King Eurytion]] of [[Phthia]]. Acastus' wife (variously named in mythology; often [[Astydameia|Astydamia]], but sometimes Hippolyte, daughter of [[Cretheus]])<ref name="OCD"/><ref name="DGRBM"/> fell in love with Peleus but he scorned her. Bitter, she sent a messenger to [[Antigone]], Peleus' wife and daughter of Eurytion, to tell her that Peleus was to marry Acastus' daughter, [[Steropes]].

Astydamia then told Acastus that Peleus had tried to rape her.<ref>Apollod. iii. 13. § 2, &c.; Pind. Nem. iv. 90, &c.</ref> Acastus took Peleus on a hunting trip and hid his sword while he slept, then abandoned him on [[Pelion|Mt. Pelion]] to be killed by [[centaur]]s. The wise centaur [[Chiron]] (or the god [[Hermes]])<ref name="DGRBM"/> returned Peleus' sword and Peleus managed to escape. With [[Jason]] and the [[Dioscuri]], Peleus sacked Iolcus, dismembered [[Astydameia|Astydamia]] (and, in some accounts, Acastus himself), and marched his army between the pieces. Their kingdom later fell to Jason's son [[Thessalus]].

==Descendants==
Acastus and Astydameia had two daughters: Sterope and [[Laodamia]], and a number of sons. Another daughter, [[Sthenele]], was given by [[Apollodorus of Athens]] as the wife of [[Menoetius]] and mother of [[Patroclus]]. [[Tzetzes|Tzetzes]] (in his ''Prolegomena in Hesiodum'') calls [[Arxippus]] a son of his.

==References==
<references/>

{{Credit wikipedia}}

[[Category:Argonauts]]
[[Category:Greek mythology]]

Acastus - Revision history

Irlandos: New page: '''Acastus''' is a character in Greek mythology. He sailed with Jason and the Argonauts, and participated in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar. Hornblower...