Peleus
- = Πηλεύς, a king of Thessaly, son of Aeacus, brother of Telamon, half-brother of Phocus, husband of Thetis, father of Achilles, and a sharer in the expedition of the Argonauts, Hyg. Fab. 14; Ov. M. 11, 221; 12, 365 sqq.; Cat. 64, 19; Hor. A. P. 96; Val. Fl. 1, 131.— Hence,
- A Pēlēïus, a, um, adj., Peleian, poet. for Achillean: facta, Sil. 13, 803: virgo, of Achilles (Briseis), Stat. Ach. 2, 210. —
- B Pēlīdes, ae, m.
- 1 The son of Peleus, i.e. Achilles, Plaut. Bacch. 4, 9, 5 (929); Ov. H. 8, 83: Pelidae currus, Verg. A. 12, 350; 2, 548; 5, 808; Hor. C. 1, 6, 6: lites Inter Peliden et inter Atriden, id. Ep. 1, 2, 12; Ov. M. 12, 605; Juv. 3, 280.—
- 2 Also, the son of Achilles: Neoptolemus, Verg. A. 2, 263.
(Πηλεύς), a son of Aeacus and Endeis, was king of the Myrmidons at Phthia in Thessaly. (Hom. Il. 24.535.) He was a brother of Telamon, and step-brother of Phocus, the son of Aeacus, by the Nereid Psamathe. (Comp. Hom. Il. 16.15, 21.189; Ov. Met. 7.477, 12.365; Apollon. 2.869, 4.853 ; Orph. Arqgon. 130.) According to some, Telamon was not a brother, but only a friend of Peleus. (Apollod. 3.12.6.) Peleus and Telamon resolved to get rid of their step-brother Phocus, because he excelled them in their military games, and Telamon killed him with a disk which he threw at him. The two brothers concealed their crime by removing the body of Phocus, but were nevertheless found out, and expelled by Aeacus front Aegina. (Apollod. 3.12.6; comp. Horat. ad Pison. 96.) According to some, Peleus murdered Phocus (Diod. 4.72; comp. Paus. 2.29.7, 10.30.2), while others combine the two statements by saying that Peleus threw down Phocus with a disk, while Telamon despatched him with his sword. (Tzetz. ad Lyc. 175.) After being exiled from Aegina, Peleus went to Phthia in Thessaly, where he was purified from the murder by Eurytion, the son of Actor, married his daughter Antigone, and received with her a third of Eurytion's kingdom. (Hom. Il. 16.175 ; Apollod. 3.13.1.) Others relate that he went to Ceyx at Trachis (Ov. Met. 11.266, &c); and as he had come to Thessaly without companions, he prayed to Zeus for an army, and the god, to please Peleus, metamorphosed the ants (μύπμηκες) into men, who were accordingly called Myrmidons. (Tzetz. ad Lyc. 175.) By Antigone, Peleus is said to have become the father of Polydora and Achilles. (Enstath. ad Hom. p. 321.) Peleus accompanied Eurytion to the Calydonian hunt, and involunltarily killed him with his spear, in consequence of which he fled from Phthia to Iolcus, where he was again purified by Acastus. (Apollod. 3.12.2; comp. Ov. Fast. 2.39, &c.) According to others (Tzet. ad Lyc. 175, 901), Peleus slew Actor, the son of Acastus. At the funeral games of Pelias, Peleus contended with Atalante, but was conquered (Apollod. 3.9.2), whereas, according to Hygilus (Fab. 273) he gained the prize in wrestling. During his stay at lolcus, Astydameia, the wife of Acastus, fell in love with him, and made proposals to him, which he rejected. In order to take vengeance on him, she sent a message to his wife at Phthia, that he was on the point of marrying Sterope, the daughter of Acastus. On receiving this information, the wife of Peleus hung herself. Astydameia further charged Peleus before her husband with having made improper proposals to her, and Acastus, unwilling to stain his hand with the blood of the man whom he had hospitably received, and whom he had purified from his guilt, took him to mount Pelion, where they hunted wild beasts; and when Peleus, overcome with fatigue, had fallen asleep, Acastus left him alone, and concealed his sword, that he might be destroyed by the wild beasts. When Peleus awoke and sought his sword, he was attacked by Centaurs, but was saved by Cheiron, who also restored to him his sword. (Apollod. 3.13.3.) To this account there are some modifications, for instead of Astydameia, Pindar (Nern. 4.92, 5.46; comp. Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. 1.224, ad Aristoph. Nub. 1059; Hor. Carm. 3.7.18) mentions Hippolyte, the daughter of Cretheus, and others relate that after Acastus had concealed the sword of Peleus, Cheiron or Hermes brought him another one, which had been made by Hephaestus. (Apollon. 1.204; Aristoph. Cl. 1055.)
While on mount Pelion, Peleus married the Nereid Thetis, by whom he became the father of Achilles, though some regarded this Thetis as different from the marine divinity, and called her a daughter of Cheiron. (Apollon. 1.558; comp. Thetis.) The gods took part in the marriage solemnity, and Cheiron presented Peleus with a lance (Hom. Il. 16.143, 24.61, &c., which, however, according to Pindar, Pind. N. 3.56, Peleus made for himself), Poseidon with the immortal horses, Balius and Xanthus, and the other gods with arms. (Apollod. 3.13.5; Horn. Il11. 16.381, 17.443, 18.84.) According to some, his immortal wife soon left him, though Homer knows nothing of it Il. 18.86, 332, 441), for once, as he observed her at night while she held the infant Achilles over a fire or in a cauldron of boiling water, in order to destroy in him those parts which he had inherited from his father, and which were mortal, Peleus was terrorstruck, and screamed so loud that she was prevented from completing her work. She therefore quitted his house, and returned to her sisters, the Nereides; but Peleus, or, according to others, Thetis herself (Orph. Argon. 385), took the boy Achilles to Cheiron, who brought him up. (Apollod. 3.13.6.) Homer mentions only Achilles as the son of Peleus and Thetis, but later writers state that she had already destroyed by fire six children, of whom she was the mother by Peleus, and that as she attempted the same with Achilles, her seventh child, she was prevented by Peleus. (Apollon. 4.816; Lycoph. 178; Ptolem. Hephaest. 6.) After this Peleus, who is also mentioned among the Argonauts, in conjunction with Jason and the Dioscuri, besieged Acastus at Iolcus, slew Astydameia, and over the scattered limbs of her body led his warriors into the city. (Apollod. 3.13.7; comp. 1.9.16; Apollon. 1.91; Orph. Argon. 130; Hyg. Fab. 14.) Some state that from mount Pelion Peleus, without an army, immediately returned to Iolcus, slew Acastus and his wife (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. 1.224; Pind. N. 3.59), and annexed Iolcus to Haemonia. (Thessaly; Pind. N. 4.91.) Respecting the feud between Peleus and Acastus, the legends present great differences. Thus we are told, for example, that Acastus, or his sons, Archander and Architeles, expelled Peleus from his kingdom of Pllthia (Eur. Tro. 1127, with the Schol.), or that the flocks which had been given by Peleus to Acastus, as an indemnification for the murder of his son Actor, were destroyed by a wolf, who was forthwith changed by Thetis into a stone (Tzetz. ad Lyc. 175, 901), or that Peleus, being abandoned during the chase by Acastus, was kindly received by Cheiron, and having acquired the possession of flocks, he took them to Irus, as an atonement for his son Eurytion, whom He had killed. But Irus refusing to accept them, Peleus allowed them to wander about without superintending shepherds, until they were attacked by a wolf. (Ant. Lib. 38.) This wolf was sent by Psaimathe, to avenge the murder of Phocus, but she herself afterwards, on the request of Thetis, changed him into stone. (Tzetz. ad Lyc. 175; Ov. Met. 11.351, &c., 400.) Phoenix, who had been blinded by his own father Amyntor, and who afterwards became the companion of Achilles, had his sight restored to him by Cheiron, at the request of Peleus, who also made him king of the Dolopes. (Lycoph. 421; Hom. Il. 9.438, 480.) Peleus also received in his dominion Epeigeus, son of Agacles, and Patroclus who had fled from his home, and some even relate that Patroclus was the son of Polymele, a daughter of Peleus. (Hom. Il. 16.571, 23.89; Apollod. 3.13.8.) Peleus, who had once joined Heracles in his expedition against Troy (Pind. O. 8.60), was too old to accompany his son Achilles against that city: He remained at home and survived the death of his son. (Hom. Il. 18.434, Od. 11.495.) [L.S]
(Πηλεύς). A king of Thessaly, son of Aeacus, monarch of Aegina, and the nymph Endeïs, the daughter of Chiron. Having been accessory, along with Telamon, to the death of their brother Phocus, he was banished from his native island, but found an asylum at the court of Eurytus, son of Actor, king of Phthia in Thessaly. He married Antigoné, the daughter of Eurytus, and received with her, as a marriage portion, the third part of the kingdom. Peleus was present with Eurytus at the chase of the Calydonian boar; but having unfortunately killed his father-in-law with the javelin which he had hurled against the animal, he was again doomed to be a wanderer. His second benefactor was Acastus, king of Iolcos; but here again he was involved in trouble through a false charge brought against him by Astydamia, or, as Horace calls her, Hippolyte, the queen of Acastus. (See Acastus.) To reward the virtue of Peleus, as fully shown by his resisting the blandishments of Astydamia, the gods resolved to give him a goddess in marriage. The spouse selected for him was the sea-nymph Thetis, who had been wooed by Zeus himself and his brother Poseidon; but Themis having declared that her child would be greater than his sire, the gods withdrew ( Isth. viii. 58 foll.). Others say that she was courted by Zeus alone till he was informed by Prometheus that, if he had a son by her, that son would dethrone him. Others, again, maintain that Thetis, who was reared by Heré, would not assent to the wishes of Zeus, and that the god, in his anger, condemned her to espouse a mortal; or that Heré herself selected Peleus for her spouse (Il. xxiv. 59). Chiron, being made aware of the will of the gods, advised Peleus to aspire to the favour of the nymph of the sea, and instructed him how to win her. He therefore lay in wait, and seized and held her fast, though she changed herself into every variety of form, becoming fire, water, a serpent, and a lioness. The wedding was solemnized on Mount Pelion; the gods all honoured it with their presence, and bestowed armour on the bridegroom. Chiron gave him the famous ashen spear afterwards wielded by his son; and Poseidon bestowed on him the immortal Harpyborn steeds Balius and Xanthus. The offspring of this union was the celebrated Achilles. According to one account, Peleus was deserted by his goddess-wife for not allowing her to cast the infant Achilles into a caldron of boiling water, to try if he were mortal. (See Achilles.) This, however, is a post-Homeric fiction, since Homer represents Peleus and Thetis as dwelling together all the lifetime of their son. Of Peleus it is farther related that he survived his son and even grandson ( Od. xi. 493), and died in misery in the island of Cos. It was at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis that the goddess of Discord threw the apple of gold into the middle of the assembled deities, with which was connected so much misfortune for both the Trojans and the Greeks. See Helene; Paris.
- Apollod. 3.12.6
- son of Aeacus, kills his half-brother Phocus and flees from Aegina: Paus. 2.29.2, 9, Paus. 10.30.4
- hunts the Calydonian boar: Paus. 8.45.6, Apollod. 1.8.2, Apollod. 1.8.2
- in the Argo: Apollod. 1.9.17
- wrestles with Atalanta: Apollod. 3.9.1, Apollod. 3.9.2, Apollod. 1.7.7
- wrestles with Jason: Paus. 5.17.10
- plots the death of his brother Phocus: Apollod. 3.12.6
- expelled from Aegina: Apollod. 3.12.6
- flees to Eurytion in Phthia and gets his daughter Antigone to wife: Apollod. 3.12.7
- kills Eurytion accidentally and flees to Acastus at Iolcus: Apollod. 3.13.1
- is purified by Acastus: Apollod. 1.7.7
- falsely accused by Astydamia, wife of Acastus: Apollod. 1.7.7, Apollod. 1.8.1
- deserted by Acastus, caught by centaurs, rescued by Chiron: Apollod. 1.8.1
- seizes Thetis: Paus. 5.18.5
- marries Thetis: Apollod. 1.8.2
- father of Achilles: Apollod. 2.4.12
- prevents Thetis from rendering Achilles immortal: Apollod. 1.8.2, Apollod. 1.8.3
- takes Achilles to Chiron: Apollod. 1.8.3, Paus. 3.18.12
- vows hair of Achilles to river Spercheus: Paus. 1.37.3
- lays waste Iolcus and kills Astydamia: Apollod. 1.8.5
- brings Phoenix to Chiron: Apollod. 1.8.6
- makes him king of the Dolopians: Apollod. 1.8.6
- father of Polymele: Apollod. 1.9.1
- Patroclus takes refuge in the house of: Apollod. 1.9.1
- expelled from Phthia by the sons of Acastus, his death: Apollod. 2.7.2
- Thetis carried off by him from Magnesia: Hdt. 7.191
- ancestor of kings of Epirus: Paus. 2.29.4
- represented in art: Paus. 5.17.10, Paus. 5.18.5, Paus. 8.45.6