Pelias
Usurper king of Iolcus who sent Jason on the quest for the Golden Fleece hoping he would die, and was later boiled alive by his own daughters.
The Legend of Pelias
His own daughters cut him up and boiled him — believing they were making him young again. Pelias had seized the throne of Iolcus from his half-brother Aeson (Jason's father). When Jason returned wearing one sandal (fulfilling a prophecy), Pelias sent him to fetch the Golden Fleece, expecting him to die. Jason returned with the Fleece and with Medea. Medea convinced Pelias's daughters that she could rejuvenate their aging father by cutting him up and boiling him with magical herbs — she demonstrated on an old ram, which emerged as a lamb. The daughters sliced their father apart. Medea added no magic. Pelias died in the pot. His son Acastus drove Jason and Medea from Iolcus.
Parents
Poseidon, Tyro
Children
Acastus, Alcestis
Symbols
Fun Fact
The one-sandal prophecy is one of the earliest recognition motifs in Greek storytelling.
Explore Further
Neleus
🗡 herokingship
Son of Poseidon and Tyro, founder of Pylos, father of Nestor, killed by Heracles for refusing purification.
Aeson
🗡 heroFather of Jason, rejuvenated by Medea
Aeson was Jason's aged father whom Medea rejuvenated through sorcery — cutting his throat, draining his blood, and filling him with a magical potion.
Cocalus
🗡 heroNone recorded
A king of Sicily who sheltered the craftsman Daedalus after his escape from Crete and whose daughters killed King Minos with boiling water
Oedipus
🗡 heroKing who fulfilled the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother
The tragic king of Thebes who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, fulfilling a prophecy he had spent his life trying to avoid.
Busiris
🗡 heroNone recorded
Egyptian king who sacrificed strangers to Zeus until Heracles broke free and killed him
Icarius
🗡 heroNone recorded
A legendary king of Sparta and father of Penelope who tried to prevent his daughter from leaving with Odysseus after her marriage
Erechtheus
🗡 herokingship
Legendary king of Athens who sacrificed his own daughter to win a war and was killed by Poseidon's trident.
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.
Aepytus
🗡 heroKingship, Arcadia
Arcadian king who was killed by a serpent while attempting to enter the forbidden sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi
Perseus
🗡 heroHero who slew Medusa
The son of Zeus and Danae who beheaded Medusa, rescued Andromeda, and founded the Perseid dynasty of Mycenae.
Aerope
🗡 heroAdultery, royalty
Queen of Mycenae whose adultery with Thyestes caused the devastating curse upon the House of Atreus
Oenomaus
🗡 heroNone recorded
A king of Pisa who killed the suitors of his daughter Hippodamia in rigged chariot races until Pelops defeated him through trickery and divine favour