Ixion (Punishment)
heroFirst human murderer of kin, who attempted to seduce Hera and was bound to an eternally spinning wheel of fire.
The Myth
He tried to seduce Zeus's wife at the dinner table — and Zeus tested him by creating a cloud shaped like Hera to see how far he would go. Ixion murdered his father-in-law (the first kinslaying in myth), and no god or mortal would purify him except Zeus, who pitied him. At the divine feast, Ixion repaid this by lusting after Hera. Zeus shaped a cloud (Nephele) into Hera's likeness. Ixion slept with the cloud, fathering the Centaurs. Zeus bound him to a fiery wheel spinning forever through Tartarus. His punishment combines three crimes: kinslaying, violation of xenia, and attempted divine adultery. The centaurs — savage, lustful, half-human — are literally the offspring of a cloud deception and human depravity.
Parents
Antion
Symbols
Explore Further
Ixion
heroIxion was the first human to murder a kinsman and the first to attempt seduction of a goddess —...
Pirithous
heroKing of the Lapiths and best friend of Theseus who attempted to kidnap Persephone from the...
Centaur (Nessus)
creatureNessus was the centaur whose poisoned blood, given as a false love charm, ultimately destroyed the...
Centaurs
creatureA race of beings with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse. Most were wild and...
Centaurs (Tribe)
creatureThe Centaurs embodied civilisation vs savage nature.
Tartarus
placeThe deepest abyss beneath the earth, as far below Hades as heaven is above earth. Tartarus was the...
Tartarus (Primordial)
primordialTartarus was both a primordial deity and the deepest pit of the cosmos — as far below Hades as...
Lycaon
heroLycaon was the king of Arcadia who tested Zeus by serving him human flesh at a banquet — and was...
Sisyphus (King)
heroSisyphus was the craftiest mortal who ever lived — he cheated Death twice before Zeus condemned him...
Centaur (Pholus)
creaturePholus was a civilised centaur who hosted Heracles on his way to capture the Erymanthian Boar —...
Hera
godQueen of the Olympian gods and goddess of marriage. Known for her jealous rages against Zeus's...
Hera Teleia
godAn epithet of Hera as goddess of marriage and its fulfilment, worshipped as the divine model of the...