Chapter 5: The Line of Deukalion
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♠ Hesiod, Ehoiai (The Catalogue of Women) fr 37.16-22 MW – Fragmenta Hesiodea, pp. 25-26, ed. R. Merkelbach and M. L. West. Oxford 1967.
♠ Hyginus, Fabulae 24
So in the same way the daughters of Pelias — namely, Alcestis, Pelopia, Medusa, Pisidice, and Hippothoe — at Medea’s instigation slew their father and cooked him in a brazen caldron. Latin Text
♠ Hesiod, Theogony 992-96
And the son of Aeson by the will of the gods led away from Aeetes the daughter of Aeetes the heaven-nurtured king, when he had finished the many grievous labours [995] which the great king, overbearing Pelias, that outrageous and presumptuous doer of violence, put upon him. Greek Text
♠ ApB 1.9.8 – Apollodoros, Bibliotheke (Library)
Now Tyro, daughter of Salmoneus and Alcidice, was brought up by Cretheus, brother of Salmoneus, and conceived a passion for the river Enipeus, and often would she hie to its running waters and utter her plaint to them. But Poseidon in the likeness of Enipeus lay with her, and she secretly gave birth to twin sons, whom she exposed. As the babes lay forlorn, a mare, belonging to some passing horsekeepers, kicked with its hoof one of the two infants and left a livid mark on its face. The horsekeeper took up both the children and reared them; and the one with the livid （pelion） mark he called Pelias, and the other Neleus. When they were grown up, they discovered their mother and killed their stepmother Sidero. For knowing that their mother was ill-used by her, they attacked her, but before they could catch her she had taken refuge in the precinct of Hera. However, Pelias cut her down on the very altars, and ever after he continued to treat Hera with contumely. Greek Text
♠ Mimnermos 11 W – Iambi et Elegi Graeci 2, p. 86, ed. M. L. West. Oxford 1972
♠ Pyndar, Pythian 4.106-15
I have come to my home to recover the ancient honor of my father, now held improperly, which once Zeus granted to Aeolus, the leader of the people, and to his sons. For I hear that lawless Pelias, yielding to his empty mind, [110] violently robbed it from my parents, who were the rulers by right. When I first saw the light, they feared the arrogance of the monstrous ruler, and made a show of dark mourning in the home, with the wailing of women as if someone had died, and sent me away secretly, in purple swaddling clothes, [115] making the night my escort on the journey, and gave me to Cheiron the son of Cronus to rear. Greek Text
♠ Pyndar, Pythian 4.120-23
So he spoke; and as he entered his father’s eyes recognized him, and tears burst forth from his aged eyelids, for his soul rejoiced when he saw his son, the choicest and most handsome of men. Greek Text
♠ Pyndar, Pythian 4.71-78
There was a divine prophecy that Pelias would be killed by the illustrious descendants of Aeolus, either at their hands or through their unflinching counsels; and an oracle came to him that chilled his shrewd spirit, spoken beside the central navel of well-wooded mother earth: [75] to be on careful guard in every way against a man with one sandal, whenever he should come from the homesteads in the steep mountains to the sunny land of famous Iolcus, whether he be stranger or citizen. Greek Text
♠ Pyndar, Pythian 4.159-67
For Phrixus asks us to bring his soul home, [160] going to the halls of Aeetes, and to recover the deep-fleeced hide of the ram, on which he was once saved from the sea and from the impious weapons of his stepmother. A marvellous dream came and told me these things, and I have asked the oracle at Castalia whether it must be pursued; and the oracle urges me to make ready as soon as possible a ship to escort him home. [165] Willingly fulfill this quest, and I swear that I will deliver up to you the royal power and the kingdom. And, as a mighty oath, may Zeus, who is ancestor to us both, be our witness. Greek Text
♠ Pyndar, Pythian 4.250
and stole away Medea, with her own help, to be the death of Pelias. Greek Text
♠ Scholia at Pythian 4.133a – Scholia vetera in Pindari carmina, Vol. 2, p. 117, ed. A.B Drachman. Leipzig 1903.
♠ Pherekydes 3F105 – Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker 1, p. 88, ed. F. Jacoby, 2d ed. Leiden 1957.
♠ ApB 1.9.16 – Apollodoros, Bibliotheke (Library)
Aeson, son of Cretheus, had a son Jason by Polymede, daughter of Autolycus. Now Jason dwelt in Iolcus, of which Pelias was king after Cretheus.1 But when Pelias consulted the oracle concerning the kingdom, the god warned him to beware of the man with a single sandal. At first the king understood not the oracle, but afterwards he apprehended it. For when he was offering a sacrifice at the sea to Poseidon, he sent for Jason, among many others, to participate in it. Now Jason loved husbandry and therefore abode in the country, but he hastened to the sacrifice, and in crossing the river Anaurus he lost a sandal in the stream and landed with only one. When Pelias saw him, he bethought him of the oracle, and going up to Jason asked him what, supposing he had the power, he would do if he had received an oracle that he should be murdered by one of the citizens. Jason answered, whether at haphazard or instigated by the angry Hera in order that Medea should prove a curse to Pelias, who did not honor Hera, “ I would command him,” said he, “ to bring the Golden Fleece. ” No sooner did Pelias hear that than he bade him go in quest of the fleece. Now it was at Colchis in a grove of Ares, hanging on an oak and guarded by a sleepless dragon. Greek Text
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Edited by Elena Bianchelli, Retired Senior Lecturer of Classical Languages and Culture, Univ. of Georgia, February 2022
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