Phrixus
Son of Athamas who rode the golden ram to Colchis, sacrificed it, and gave its fleece to King Aeetes.
The Legend of Phrixus
He rode a flying golden ram across the known world — and his sister Helle fell to her death along the way. Phrixus and Helle were children of King Athamas and the cloud-goddess Nephele. Their stepmother Ino engineered a false oracle demanding their sacrifice, but Nephele sent the golden ram Chrysomallus to save them. After Helle fell at the Hellespont, Phrixus continued alone to Colchis. He sacrificed the ram to Zeus and gave the fleece to King Aeetes, who hung it in a grove guarded by a dragon. Aeetes married Phrixus to his daughter Chalciope. Phrixus's ghost later appeared to Jason in a dream, beginning the quest.
Parents
Athamas, Nephele
Symbols
Fun Fact
Phrixus's ghost appearing to Jason mirrors how Patroclus's ghost drives Achilles back into the Trojan War.
Explore Further
Golden Ram
🐉 creatureFlight, rescue, sacrifice
Divine winged ram with golden fleece that rescued Phrixus and Helle and whose skin became the legendary Golden Fleece
Helle
🗡 herotragedy
Daughter of Athamas who fell from the golden ram into the strait that bears her name — the Hellespont.
Bellerophon
🗡 heroThe hero who tamed Pegasus
The Corinthian hero who tamed the winged horse Pegasus and slew the Chimera, but fell from heaven when he tried to reach Olympus.
Fleece of Chrysomallus
💭 conceptArtefact
The golden fleece of the divine winged ram, the object of Jason's legendary quest to Colchis
Bellerophon and Pegasus
🗡 herohubris, fall
The hero who tamed Pegasus and slew the Chimera but was destroyed by his own hubris when he tried to fly to Olympus.
Bellerophon
🗡 heroTamer of Pegasus, slayer of the Chimera
The hero who tamed the winged horse Pegasus and used him to slay the monstrous Chimera. His story is a cautionary tale about hubris.
Peleus
🗡 heroheroism
King of Phthia, Argonaut, and father of Achilles who wrestled the shape-shifting sea goddess Thetis to win her as his bride.
Amphiaraus
🗡 heroThe prophet who foresaw his own death at Thebes
A warrior-prophet who knew the Seven Against Thebes would fail but marched to his death anyway, swallowed by the earth.
Golden Fleece
💭 conceptquest
The fleece of the golden ram Chrysomallus that carried Phrixus to Colchis, becoming the object of Jason's quest.
Theseus
🗡 heroheroism
Athenian prince who entered the Cretan Labyrinth, killed the Minotaur with Ariadne's help, then abandoned her on Naxos.
Deucalion
🗡 herosurvival
Son of Prometheus who survived Zeus's great flood by building an ark on his father's advice, then repopulated the earth.
Anticlea
🗡 heroNone recorded
Mother of Odysseus who died of grief during his absence and appeared to him in the Underworld