Ixion
Ixion was the first human to murder a kinsman and the first to attempt seduction of a goddess — bound forever to a spinning wheel of fire.
The Legend of Ixion
A king of the Lapiths, Ixion murdered his father-in-law by pushing him into a bed of burning coals — the first kin-slaying in Greek myth. No mortal or god would purify him until Zeus, pitying him, brought him to Olympus. There Ixion repaid the kindness by pursuing Hera. Zeus shaped a cloud in Hera's likeness; Ixion coupled with it, fathering the Centaurs. For this triple crime — murder, ingratitude, and lust for a goddess — Zeus bound Ixion to an eternally spinning wheel of fire in Tartarus, alongside the punishments of Tantalus, Sisyphus, and Prometheus.
Parents
Antion (or Phlegyas)
Symbols
Fun Fact
Ixion is the Greek Cain — the first murderer — and his punishment on the wheel became an archetypal image of eternal torment.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Ixion
🗡 heropunishment
First human murderer of kin, who attempted to seduce Hera and was bound to an eternally spinning wheel of fire.
Aerope
🗡 heroAdultery, royalty
Queen of Mycenae whose adultery with Thyestes caused the devastating curse upon the House of Atreus
Tenes
🗡 heroPurity, Betrayal, Apollo
Prince of Colonae and first ruler of Tenedos, killed by Achilles despite his divine protection by Apollo.
Danaus
🗡 heromurder
Egyptian-born king of Argos whose fifty daughters murdered their fifty husbands on their wedding night — all except one.
Tereus and Philomela
🗡 herovengeance, transformation
The myth of a Thracian king who assaulted his sister-in-law and cut out her tongue, only for the sisters to exact gruesome revenge.
Aegyptus
🗡 heroNone recorded
A mythological king with fifty sons who demanded marriage to the fifty daughters of his brother Danaus, precipitating one of the most infamous mass killings in Greek mythology
Pelops
🗡 herokingship
Son of Tantalus, restored to life by the gods with an ivory shoulder, who won his bride by cheating in a chariot race and cursed his line.
Heracles
🗡 heroGreatest of all Greek heroes
The son of Zeus and Alcmene who performed twelve impossible labours and was the only hero to achieve full godhood after death.
Alcmaeon
🗡 herovengeance
Son of Amphiaraus who killed his own mother Eriphyle on his father's orders and was driven mad by the Erinyes.
Paris
🗡 heroPrince who caused the Trojan War
Paris was the Trojan prince whose judgement of three goddesses and abduction of Helen ignited the Trojan War — the most consequential act of desire in Western mythology.
Neleus
🗡 herokingship
Son of Poseidon and Tyro, founder of Pylos, father of Nestor, killed by Heracles for refusing purification.
Perseus
🗡 heroHero who slew Medusa
The son of Zeus and Danae who beheaded Medusa, rescued Andromeda, and founded the Perseid dynasty of Mycenae.