Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Athamas (; ) was a

Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia (; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Central Greece (adm ...

n king.

Apollodorus Apollodorus ( Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ''Apollodoros'') was a popular name in ancient Greece. It is the masculine gender of a noun compounded from Apollo, the deity, and doron, "gift"; that is, "Gift of Apollo." It may refer to: :''Note: A ...

1.9.1
/ref>

Family

Athamas was formerly a

Thessalian Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia (, ), and appea ...

prince and the son of King

Aeolus In Greek mythology, Aiolos, transcribed as Aeolus (; ; ) refers to three characters. These three are often difficult to tell apart, and even the ancient mythographers appear to have been perplexed about which Aeolus was which. Diodorus Siculus m ...

of Aeolia and

Enarete In Greek mythology, Enarete (, Ancient Greek: "virtuous" literally "in virtue", from ''en'' "in" and ''arete'' "virtue"), or Aenarete ( ''Ainarete''), was a queen of Aeolia (i.e. Thessaly) and ancestor of the Aeolians. Biography Enarete was t ...

, daughter of Deimachus. He was the brother of

Salmoneus In Greek mythology, Salmoneus (; Ancient Greek: Σαλμωνεύς) was 'the wicked'Hesiod, '' Ehoiai'' fr. 4 as cited in Plutarch, ''Moralia'' p. 747; Scholia ad Pindar, ''Pythian Ode'' 4.263 eponymous king and founder of Salmone in Pisatis. ...

Sisyphus In Greek mythology, Sisyphus or Sisyphos (; Ancient Greek: Σίσυφος ''Sísyphos'') was the founder and king of Ancient Corinth, Ephyra (now known as Corinth). He reveals Zeus's abduction of Aegina (mythology), Aegina to the river god As ...

Cretheus In Greek mythology, Cretheus (; Ancient Greek: Κρηθεύς ''Krētheus'') was the king and founder of Iolcus. Family Cretheus was the son of King Aeolus of Aeolia (son of Hellen) by either EnareteHesiod, '' Ehoiai'' fr. 10(a); Apollodorus1. ...

, Perieres,

Deioneus In Greek mythology, Deioneus (; Ancient Greek: Δηιονεύς means "ravager") or Deion (; Ancient Greek: ) is a name attributed to the following individuals: *Deioneus, king of Phocis and son of King Aeolus of Aeolia and Enarete, daughter of ...

, Magnes, Calyce,

Canace In Greek mythology, Canace (; ) was a Thessalian princess, the daughter of King Aeolus of Aeolia and Enarete, daughter of Deimachus. She was sometimes referred to as Aeolis. Family Canace was the sister of Athamas, Cretheus, Deioneus, Magn ...

Alcyone In Greek mythology, Alcyone (or dubiously Halcyone) (; ) and Ceyx (; ) were a wife and husband who incurred the wrath of the god Zeus for their romantic hubris. Etymology Alkyóne comes from alkyón (), which refers to a sea-bird with a mour ...

Pisidice In Greek mythology, Pisidice (, , ''Peisidíkē'', "to convince or persuade") or Peisidice was one of the following individuals: * Pisidice, a Thessalian princess as the daughter of King Aeolus of Aeolia and Enarete, daughter of Deimachus. She w ...

and Perimede. Athamas sired several children by his first wife, the goddess

Nephele In Greek and Roman mythology, Nephele (; ; corresponding to Latin ''nebula'') is the name of two figures associated with clouds, sometimes confused with each other, who figures respectively in the stories of Ixion and in the story of Phrixus and ...

, and his other wives Ino and

Themisto In Greek mythology, Themisto (; Ancient Greek: Θεμιστώ) was a Thessalin princess as the daughter of King Hypseus of LapithsApollodorus, 1.9.2 and the naiad Chlidanope. Her name is derived from the Ancient Greek word: "θεμιστος" ...

. Nephele first bore to him twins, a son

Phrixus In Greek mythology Phrixus (; also spelt Phryxus; means "standing on end, bristling") was the son of Athamas, king of Boeotia, and Nephele (a goddess of clouds). He was the older brother of Helle (mythology), Helle and the father of Argus (Gree ...

and a daughter Helle;Apollodorus
1.9.1
Hyginus, ''Fabulae'
1
/ref> and also a second son,

Makistos Macistus or Makistos (), or Macistum or Makiston (Μάκιστον), was a city of ancient Elis, in Greece. It is one of the six cities (along with Lepreum, Phrixae, Pyrgus, Epium, and Nudium) founded by the Minyans in the territory of the ...

. He subsequently married Ino, daughter of

Cadmus In Greek mythology, Cadmus (; ) was the legendary Phoenician founder of Boeotian Thebes, Greece, Thebes. He was, alongside Perseus and Bellerophon, the greatest hero and slayer of monsters before the days of Heracles. Commonly stated to be a ...

, with whom he had two children:

Learches In Greek mythology, Learchus (Ancient Greek: Λέαρχος) or Learches was the son of King Athamas and Ino, daughter of King Cadmus of Thebes. He was the brother of Melicertes.Grimal, s.v. Learchus, p. 254. Mythology The story of Learchus i ...

and

Melicertes In Greek mythology, Melicertes (, sometimes Melecertes), later called Palaemon or Palaimon (), was a Boeotian prince as the son of King Athamas and Ino, daughter of King Cadmus of Thebes. He was the brother of Learchus. Mythology Ino, purs ...

. By the daughter of

Hypseus In Greek mythology, the name Hypseus (; "one on high", derived from ''hypsos'' "height") may refer to: *Hypseus, a king of the Lapiths and son of the river god Peneus either by (1) the naiad Creusa, daughter of Gaia; (2) Philyra, daughter of As ...

, Themisto, he was the father of Sphincius and Orchomenus

Hyginus Hyginus may refer to: People *Hyginus, the author of the '' Fabulae'', an important ancient Latin source for Greek mythology. *Hyginus, the author of the ''Astronomia'', a popular ancient Latin guide on astronomy, probably the same as the author ...

, ''Fabulae'
1
/ref> or

Schoeneus In Greek mythology, Schoeneus (; Ancient Greek: Σχοινεύς ''Skhoineús'', literally "rushy") was the name of several individuals: *Schoeneus, a Boeotian king, the son of Athamas and Themisto. He may have immigrated to Arcadia, where a vil ...

and

Leucon In Greek mythology, the name Leucon (; Ancient Greek: Λεύκων) may refer to: *Leucon, a son of Themisto by either Athamas or Poseidon. His children were Erythras, Pisidice, Hyperippe and Euippe (mother of Eteocles by Andreus). He was said to ...

and also, Erythrius and

Ptous In Greek mythology, Ptous (; Ancient Greek: Πτῶος) may refer to the following: * Ptous, eponym of Mount Ptous in Boeotia on which the town Acraephnium was situated. He was believed to have been a son of either Athamas and Themisto, or of ...

.Apollodorus, 1.9.2;

Tzetzes John Tzetzes (; , Constantinople – 1180, Constantinople) was a Byzantine poet and grammarian who lived at Constantinople in the 12th century. He is known for making significant contributions in preserving much valuable information from ancien ...

Lycophron Lycophron ( ; ; born about 330–325 BC) was a Hellenistic Greek tragic poet, grammarian, and commentator on comedy, to whom the poem ''Alexandra'' is attributed (perhaps falsely). Life and miscellaneous works He was born at Chalcis in Euboea, a ...

, 22

Mythology

Phrixus and Helle were hated by their stepmother, Ino. Ino hatched a devious plot to get rid of the twins, roasting all the town's 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. Athamas reluctantly agreed. But, before Phrixus could be killed, he and Helle were spirited away by a flying golden ram sent by Nephele, their natural mother. Helle fell off the ram into the

Hellespont The Dardanelles ( ; ; ), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula) and in classical antiquity as the Hellespont ( ; ), is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey t ...

(which was named after her) and died, but Phrixus survived all the way to

Colchis In classical antiquity and Greco-Roman geography, Colchis (; ) was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi ( ka, ეგრისი) located on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia. Its population, the ...

, where King

Aeëtes Aeëtes ( ; , ), or Aeeta, was the ruler of the eponymous realm of Aea in Greek mythology, a wondrous realm which from the fifth century B.C.E. onward became identified with the kingdom of Colchis east in the Black Sea. The name comes from the an ...

took him in and treated him kindly, giving Phrixus his daughter

Chalciope Chalciope (; ), in Greek mythology, is a name that may refer to several characters. * Chalciope, daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis and wife of Phrixus. *Chalciope, daughter of Rhexenor (or of King Chalcodon of Euboea) and the second wife o ...

in marriage. In gratitude, Phrixus gave the king the golden fleece of the ram, which Aeëtes hung in a tree in his kingdom. Later, Ino raised

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...

, her nephew, son of her sister

Semele Semele (; ), or Thyone (; ) in Greek mythology, was the youngest daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia (Greek goddess), Harmonia, and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths. Certain elements of the cult of Dionysus and Semele ...

, causing

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...

's intense jealousy. In vengeance, Hera struck Athamas with insanity. Athamas went mad and slew one of his sons,

Learchus In Greek mythology, Learchus (Ancient Greek: Λέαρχος) or Learches was the son of King Athamas and Ino, daughter of King Cadmus of Thebes. He was the brother of Melicertes.Grimal, s.v. Learchus, p. 254. Mythology The story of Learchus i ...

; Ino, to escape the pursuit of her frenzied husband, threw herself into the sea with her son

. Both were afterwards worshipped as marine divinities, Ino as

Leucothea In Greek mythology, Leucothea (; ), sometimes also called Leucothoe (), was a Water deity, sea goddess. Myths surrounding Leucothea typically concern her original identity, either as Ino (Greek mythology), Ino or Halia of Rhodes, Halia, and her t ...

, Melicertes as Palaemon.

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

, ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its Cre ...

'' 4.416 In another version Ino killed Melicertes after finding out that Athamas was sleeping with a slave woman named Antiphera. Athamas, with the guilt of his son's murder upon him, was obliged to flee from

. He was ordered by the oracle to settle in a place where he should receive hospitality from wild beasts. This he found at

Phthiotis Phthiotis (, ''Fthiótida'' ; ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Φθιῶτις) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece (administrative region), Central Greece. The capital is the city of La ...

Thessaly Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...

, 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,

(sons:

and/or others). 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 and directed that the children in black clothes be killed. Ino switched their clothes without Themisto's knowledge, and so Themisto caused the death of her own children. According to some accounts, Athamas was succeeded on the throne by

Presbon In Greek mythology, the name Presbon (Ancient Greek: Πρέσβων "elder, senior") may refer to: *Presbon, a son of Phrixus and Chalciope ( Iophassa), daughter of King Aeetes of Colchis, mentioned in few sources, and never enumerated alongside h ...

.Presbon
A part of Kingdom of Athamas, and himself, moved in a northwesterly direction and took roots in a part of Pindus mountains in Epirus, called Athamanian mountains. So this population was called the

Athamanians Athamanians or Athamanes (, ''Athamanes'') were an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited south-eastern Epirus and west Thessaly. Today, the municipal unit of Athamania in Central Tzoumerka and the community of Athamania in Pyli are named after t ...

Gallery

File:Atamante preso dalle Furie 0014.jpg, Atamante preso dalle Furie by Arcangelo Migliarini (1801) at Roma, Accademia di San Luca File:Athamas tue le fils d'Ino - Gaetano Gandolfi (1801).jpg, Athamas tue le fils d'Ino by Gaetano Gandolfi (1801) File:Athamas und Ino ubs G 0732 II.jpg, Athamas und Ino by Radierung (17th century) File:The Insane Athamas Killing Learchus, While Ino and Melicertor Jump into the Sea LACMA 65.37.123.jpg, The Insane Athamas Killing Learchus, While Ino and Melicertor Jump into the Sea by Wilhelm Janson (Holland, Amsterdam), Antonio Tempesta (Italy, Florence, 1555-1630) at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles

Notes

References

, ''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
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
*

Gaius Julius Hyginus Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Augustus, and reputed author of the '' Fabulae'' and the '' De astronomia'', although this is disputed. Life and works ...

, ''Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
*

Hesiod Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient Greece, Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.Jasper Gr ...

, ''Catalogue of Women'' from ''Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica'' translated by Evelyn-White, H G. Loeb Classical Library Volume 57. London: William Heinemann, 1914
Online version at theio.com
*

Publius Ovidius Naso Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three ...

, ''Metamorphoses'' translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
*Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Metamorphoses.'' Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892
Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library
*

Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephen of Byzantium (; , ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD) was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethnica'' (). Only meagre fragments of the dictionary survive, but the epit ...

, ''Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt,'' edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling
Online version at the Topos Text Project.

External links

The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Athamas and Ino)
{{Authority control Aeolides Family of Athamas Princes in Greek mythology Kings in Greek mythology Metamorphoses characters Mythological Boeotians Deeds of Hera Mythological Thessalians Boeotian mythology Thessalian mythology Deeds of Zeus Filicide in mythology