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"There is no city so
barbarous or so strange in its speech that it does
not know the
Fame of the hero Peleus ..."
[Pindar, Isthmian
Odes
6.25]
Clytaemnestra:
Did Thetis or his father
train
Achilles?
Agamemnon:
Chiron brought him up, to prevent his
learning the ways of the wicked.
Clytaemnestra:
Ah! wise the teacher, still
wiser the one who gave his son.
[Euripides,
Iphigenia
in Aulis 709]
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Peleus, who was driven fugitive from the island
of Aegina, became in time king in Phthia. In his
life he both plotted and was plotted against. He
was born a mortal, but having married a goddess,
his wedding party was, for several reasons, the
greatest that has ever been. However, his wife
deserted him, and his heirs died before him. Yet
Peleus, who is among the few privileged to have
heard the song of the
MUSES, is now immortal and
lives with Thetis in her father's house, or else
dwells in the Islands of
the Blest.
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Children of Aeacus
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Once Zeus had
transformed ants into men to cure the loneliness of
King Aeacus of Aegina,
this ruler married Endeis, and had by her two sons,
Peleus and Telamon; others have said that Telamon
was not Peleus' brother but his friend, himself
being son of Actaeus 2 and Glauce 2, daughter of
Cychreus, king of Salamis, an island off the coast
of Attica in the Saronic Gulf not long from the
island of Aegina.
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Peleus banished from home
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Later, however, King
Aeacus consorted with the
nereid Psamathe 1, despite her attempt to avoid him
by turning into a seal, and had by her a son Phocus
3. It is told that this young man excelled in
athletic sports, and that for this reason Peleus
and Telamon plotted against him. After casting lots
to decide who would kill him, Telamon was appointed
and slew his half-brother in a match by throwing a
quoit at his head.
Others say, however, that when Telamon and
Peleus had induced their half-brother to compete at
the pentathlon, Peleus, who was using a stone for a
quoit, hurled it intentionally at Phocus 3, hitting
and killing him. Once the crime had been committed,
the two conspirators carried the body and hid it in
a wood, but despite their efforts to conceal their
deed, the murder (which some think it was done to
please their mother Endeis whereas others believe
it was an accident and not a murder) was detected,
and on its account both Peleus and Telamon were
banished from Aegina by
Aeacus.
Some generations later, Pylades plotted together
with Orestes 2 against
Neoptolemus, son of
Achilles, son of Peleus
and Thetis. Pylades, some say, had his own reasons
while helping his friend
Orestes 2; for he
himself was son of Strophius 1, son of Crisus, son
of Phocus 3.
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Peleus marries princess
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Telamon went to Salamis, whence he probably had
come, while Peleus fled to Phthia to the court of
Eurytion 2, and was purified by him. According to
some, Eurytion 2 was son of King Actor 1 of Phthia,
son of Myrmidon, but others say that he was son of
Irus 1 and Demonassa 1. In any case, Eurytion 2
gave Peleus a third part of his country, and his
daughter Antigone 1 as wife.
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Accidentally kills his his father-in-law
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This is the time when the
ARGONAUTS assembled,
and Peleus joined them. On his return from this
expedition, when a boar sent by
Artemis ravaged
Calydon, Peleus joined
the CALYDONIAN
HUNTERS. During this hunt, Peleusstruck down,
as they say undesignedly, his father-in-law
Eurytion 2 with a javelin, and having for that
reason being compelled to leave Phthia, he came to
Iolcus where Acastus reigned, and was purified by
him. Medea, who had come
to Hellas with the
ARGONAUTS, had already
visited the palace at Iolcus; for King
Pelias 1, father of
Acastus, was now dead through her machinations. And
in the course of the funeral games that Acastus
celebrated in honor of his father,
Atalanta wrestled with
Peleus and won over him; and yet he would later
defeat a goddess through a kind of wrestling.
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Plot against Peleus
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Now, while Peleus was a guest at Iolcus, the
king's wife Astydamia 3 fell in love with him, and
as he refused her, she sent a message to Peleus'
wife Antigone 1 telling her that Peleus was about
to marry Acastus' daughter Sterope 5. On learning
this, Antigone 1 strung herself up. In addition,
Astydamia 3 told her husband that Peleus had
attempted to seduce her. Acastus was reluctant to
kill the man he had purified, but took him instead
to hunt on Mount Pelion, not far away from Iolcus
in Thessaly, and when Peleus had fallen asleep, he
deserted him, hiding his sword. Having woke up
unarmed, Peleus was caught by the
CENTAURS, who would
have killed him, had not
Chiron, who also restored
him his sword, interceded.
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Second marriage
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Having lost his wife on account of the intrigues
of Astydamia 3, Peleus married Polydora 2, daughter
of Perieres 1, son of Aeolus
1 according to some, or according to others son
of Cynortes, son of Amyclas 1, son of Lacedaemon,
son of Zeus and the Pleiad
Taygete. Polydora 2's mother was Gorgophone 2,
daughter of Perseus 1
and Andromeda.
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Married to a goddess
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Now, whatever happened to Polydora 2, after her
Peleus married the nereid Thetis.
Zeus and
Poseidon had been once
rivals for the hand of this goddess, but because
Themis, or the
MOERAE, or
Proteus 2, or
Prometheus 1
prophesied that the son born of Thetis would be
mightier than his father, they both withdrew.
Others say, however, that Thetis would not consort
with Zeus because she had
been brought up by Hera,
and that Zeus, wishing to
punish her, married her to a mortal, his own
grandson Peleus.
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How Peleus caught her
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But because Thetis could easily evade anyone
using her power to change into different forms,
Proteus 2 (who also
knew this art) gave Peleus the necessary
instructions in order to conquer her saying:
"... And
though she take a hundred lying forms, let her not
escape you, but hold her close, whatever she may
be, until she take again the form she had at
first." [Proteus
2 to Peleus. Ovid,
Metamorphoses
11.250]
Others have said that it was the wise Centaur
Chiron who instructed
Peleus, and not Proteus
2. But whoever the teacher was, this is how
Peleus, following those instructions, lay in wait
for Thetis in the southern promontory of Magnesia,
called Sepia, and there conquered the
shape-changing goddess, who was reluctant to marry
him; for, being herself a deity, a mortal was not
the best she could get. And Thetis knew well the
reasons of her defeat, for she said:
"It is not
without some god's assistance that you
conquer." [Thetis to Peleus. Ovid,
Metamorphoses
11.263]
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Peleus and Thetis in the
cave at Sepia
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Peleus' wedding party
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Chiron gave Peleus an
ashen spear, with which
Achilles later wounded
and healed Telephus,
and Poseidon gave him
the immortal horses Balius 1 and Xanthus 1 that
followed Achilles to
the war at Troy. And during
the wedding party, said
Chiron to Thetis:
"Daughter of
Nereus, you shall bear a son, a dazzling light to
Thessaly...for he shall come with an army of
Myrmidon spearmen to the famous land of
Priam, to set it in a blaze ..."
[Chiron to Thetis.
Euripides,
Iphigenia
in Aulis 1065]
The wedding of Peleus and Thetis was celebrated
on Mount Pelion by the gods with a great feast. In
it the MUSES themselves
sang; and this is why Peleus is counted among those
who attained the highest prosperity of all mortal
men, since he
"... heard the
Muses of the golden diadems singing on
the mountain ..." [Pindar, Pythian
Odes
3.90]
But it was also at this party that
Eris threw the fatal Apple
that led to the Judgement of
Paris, the abduction of
Helen, and the
Trojan War, in which
her beloved son
Achilles, mightier than
his father, perished. Knowing what would happen,
Thetis tried to make her son immortal, but being
prevented by Peleus, she left her husband's home
forever, returning to the sea, her natural abode.
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Peleus captures Iolcus
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Peleus gave his child
Achilles to
Chiron to be educated by
him, while himself, having
Jason and the
DIOSCURI as allies,
attacked and sacked Iolcus, capturing Queen
Astydamia 3, who had plotted against him. Peleus
then, in an attempt to get even, divided her limb
from limb, leading his army through her into the
city. And yet a poet affirmed:
"Among old
examples of excellence is king Peleus ... who
alone, without an army, captured Iolcus ..."
[Pindar, Nemean
Odes
3.34]
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Phoenix 2 and
Patroclus 1 come to
Peleus' house
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When Peleus' son
Achilles was fifteen
years old, all events that were necessary for him
to become famous in war abroad had taken place:
Eris had thrown her apple,
the three goddesses had been judged by
Paris, and
Helen had been abducted.
Achilles was
accompanied to Troy by
Patroclus 1 and by
Phoenix 2. The latter, accused of having seduced
his father's concubine Phthia 3, had been blinded
by his own father Amyntor 1, and it was Peleus who
brought him to Chiron to
have his sight restored. Thereupon Peleus made
Phoenix 2 king of Dolopeis, a city near Lake
Xynius, whence he ruled the Dolopians living in
Epirus and Thessaly.
Achilles died in the
war, and Phoenix 2, an old man, left this world on
his homeward way from Troy;
but Achilles' son
Neoptolemus, who
travelled back in his company, became king of
Epirus. Patroclus 1
came to the house of Peleus seeking refuge after
having killed Clitonymus over a game of dice, and
there he became
Achilles' best friend,
or as some believe, his lover.
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Peleus saves
Andromache's life
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When Troy had been
sacked, Neoptolemus
heard that his grandfather Peleus had been expelled
by Acastus, and that is the reason why, some say,
he departed for home in haste. Peleus might have
been then restored, for it is also said that
Neoptolemus refused
to accept the throne of Pharsalia while his
grandfather was still alive.
Neoptolemus, who
settled in Epirus, did not succeed Peleus; for he
was murdered at Delphi by
Orestes 2 on account of
Hermione. This girl,
who had been promised in marriage by her father
Menelaus both to
Neoptolemus and
Orestes 2, married
first the former. But as
Neoptolemus had
brought Hector 1's wife
Andromache captive
from Troy, and had a son by
her, whereas Hermione
herself was childless, she plotted against
Andromache while
Neoptolemus was
visiting Delphi, being
helped by her father
Menelaus, who had come
to Epirus. Menelaus
intended to kill
Andromache, for he
believed that this woman was taking his daughter's
place. But when he was about to commit this crime,
Peleus arrived with troops to his grandson's house,
and saved
Andromache's life.
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Desolation
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His grandson's death, however, left him
desolated:
"Life is gone
and hope dead. Not one of my family is left, not
one to bear my name." [Peleus. Euripides,
Andromache
1175]
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Immortality
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But then Thetis, who had deserted him long ago,
returned in remembrance of their marriage, and
after instructing him to bury
Neoptolemus at
Delphi, she announced
that she had come to grant him immortality, saying
that thence forward they should live together till
time ends in her father's house:
"... Go to the
ancient Sepian Rock and sit down in its vaulted
cave, and wait until I come out of the sea with
fifty dancing nymphs to escort you home. Cease from
your grieving for the dead. For this is the
judgement that stands over all mortals and death is
their debt to pay. " [Thetis to Peleus.
Euripides,
Andromache
1265]
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