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2006-01-30T13:31:39Z

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Irlandos at 13:31, January 30, 2006

2006-01-30T13:31:11Z

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The king of [[Orchomenus]] in Greek mythology, '''Athamas''' ("rich harvest") was married first to the goddess [[Nephele]] with whom he had the twins [[Phrixus]] and [[Helle]]. He later divorced Nephele and married [[Ino]], daughter of [[Cadmus]]. With Ino, he had two children: [[Learches]] and [[Melicertes]]. Athamas also had a brother, [[Salmoneus]], who was the father of [[Tyro]].

[[Phrixus]] and Helle, were hated by their stepmother, Ino. Ino hatched a devious plot to get rid of the twins, roasting all the towns crop seeds so they would not grow. The local farmers, frightened of famine, asked a nearby oracle for assistance. Ino bribed the men sent to the oracle to lie and tell the others that the oracle required the sacrifice of Phrixus. Athamus reluctantly agreed. Before he was killed though, Phrixus and Helle were rescued by a flying golden ram sent by Nephele, their natural mother. Helle fell off the ram into the [[Hellespont]] (which was named after her) and died, but Phrixus survived all the way to [[Colchis]], where King [[Aeetes]] took him in and treated him kindly, giving Phrixus his daughter, [[Medea]], in marriage. In gratitude, Phrixus gave the king the golden fleece of the ram, which Aeetes hung in a tree in his kingdom.

Later, Ino raised [[Dionysus]], her nephew, son of her sister [[Semele]], causing [[Hera]]'s intense jealousy. In vengeance, [[Hera]] struck Athamas with insanity. Athamas went mad, and slew one of his sons, [[Learchus]]; Ino, to escape the pursuit of her frenzied husband, threw herself into the sea with her son [[Melicertes]]. Both were afterwards worshipped as marine divinities, Ino as [[Leucothea]], Melicertes as [[Palaemon]].

Athamas, with the guilt of his son's murder upon him, was obliged to flee from [[Boeotia]]. He was ordered by the oracle to settle in a place where he should receive hospitality from wild beasts. This he found at [[Phthiotis]] in [[Thessaly]], where he surprised some wolves eating sheep; on his approach they fled, leaving him the bones. Athamas, regarding this as the fulfilment of the oracle, settled there and married a third wife, [[Themisto]] (son: [[Schoeneus]]). The spot was afterwards called the Athamanian plain.

When Athamas returned to his second wife, [[Ino]], [[Themisto]] sought revenge by dressing her children in white clothing and Ino's in black. Ino switched their clothes without Themisto knowing and she killed her own children.

==Reference==
[[Ovid]] IV, 416.

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[[Category:Greek mythological people]]

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Athamas - Revision history

Irlandos: /* Reference */

Irlandos at 13:31, January 30, 2006