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 ...

, Pheres (, ''Phéres'', modern pronunciation ''Féris''; ) is the son of

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. ...

and

Tyro In Greek mythology, Tyro () was an Elean princess who later became Queen of Iolcus. Tyro was the daughter of King Salmoneus of Elis and Alcidice. She married her uncle, King Cretheus of Iolcus, and had three sons with him, and also bore twin s ...

, and the brother of

Aeson In Greek mythology, Aeson (; Ancient Greek: Αἴσων ''Aísōn'') was a king of Iolcus in Thessaly. He was the father of the hero Jason. According to one version of the story, he was imprisoned by his half-brother Pelias, and when Pelias int ...

and Amythaon. In the '' Bibliotheca'' of Apollodorus, he is said to be the founder of Pherae in

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 ...

. In the ''

Fabulae The ''Fabulae'' is a Latin handbook of mythology, attributed to an author named Hyginus, who is generally believed to have been separate from Gaius Julius Hyginus. The work consists of some three hundred very brief and plainly, even crudely, told ...

'', he is said to be the father of Admetus by Periclymene. In addition to Admetus, Apollodorus calls

Lycurgus Lycurgus (; ) was the legendary lawgiver of Sparta, credited with the formation of its (), involving political, economic, and social reforms to produce a military-oriented Spartan society in accordance with the Delphic oracle. The Spartans i ...

, Eidomene, and

Periopis In Greek mythology, Periopis (Ancient Greek: Περίωπις) was a princess of Pherae as daughter of King of PheresBibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus), Apollodorus3.13.8/ref> and possibly, Periclymene, daughter of King Minyas (mythology), Minyas of ...

children of Pheres.

Family

According to the '' Bibliotheca'', a 2nd-century AD work by the Greek mythographer Apollodurs, Pheres is the son of

, the founder of

Iolcus Iolcus (; also rendered ''Iolkos'' ; and Ἰαωλκός; ; ) is an ancient city, a modern village and a former municipality in Magnesia, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of Volos, of which it is a municipal un ...

, and his wife

. He is given two brothers,

and Amythaon. The same genealogy is given by the 1st-century BC historian

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental Universal history (genre), universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty ...

in his ''

Bibliotheca historica ''Bibliotheca historica'' (, ) is a work of Universal history (genre), universal history by Diodorus Siculus. It consisted of forty books, which were divided into three sections. The first six books are geographical in theme, and describe the h ...

''. In the ''

'', attributed to

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 ...

, Pheres marries Periclymene, a daughter of Minyas, by whom he becomes the father of Admetus.

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'
14
/ref> In addition to Admetus, Apollodorus includes

as a son of Pheres, and mentions Eidomene, who becomes the wife of Amythaon, and

, as his daughters. Hyginus also mentions Antigona, the mother of Asterius, as the daughter of a figure named Pheres. Of them, Admetus was the husband of the famous Alcestis, who died in his stead and was rescued by

Heracles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...

, while Pheres, despite his old age, would not do the same for his son.

Mythology

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

' '' Eumenides'' Pheres is mentioned by the Chorus of

Erinyes The Erinyes ( ; , ), also known as the Eumenides (, the "Gracious ones"), are chthonic goddesses of vengeance in ancient Greek religion and mythology. A formulaic oath in the ''Iliad'' invokes them as "the Erinyes, that under earth tak ...

Clytemnestra Clytemnestra (, ; , ), in Greek mythology, was the wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and the half-sister of Helen of Sparta. In Aeschylus' ''Oresteia'', she murders Agamemnon – said by Euripides to be her second husband – and the Trojan p ...

. The

were the avengers for the mother-blood

Orestes In Greek mythology, Orestes or Orestis (; ) was the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, and the brother of Electra and Iphigenia. He was also known by the patronymic Agamemnonides (), meaning "son of Agamemnon." He is the subject of several ...

spilled by ordering of

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

. The Chorus leader argues with Apollo over the just sentence

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

and her panel of judges are about to speak. According to Apollodorus, Pheres was the founder of the city of Pherae in

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 ...

, 1.9.14.

Notes

References

, translated in two volumes. 2. ''Eumenides'' by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph.D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
*

, ''Apollodorus. The Library, Volume I: Books 1-3.9'', translated by James G. Frazer,

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a monographic series of books originally published by Heinemann and since 1934 by Harvard University Press. It has bilingual editions of ancient Greek and Latin literature, ...

No. 121, Cambridge, Massachusetts,

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

, 1921. {{ISBN, 978-0-674-99135-4
Harvard University PressPerseus Digital Library
*

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

, ''Alcestis'' with an English translation by David Kovacs. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1994
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
*

, ''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.
Mythological kings of Pherae Kings in Greek mythology Princes in Greek mythology Mythological Iolcians Mythological city founders Aeolides