Pelias
Family: Iolcus · Role: king and task-giver · First appears: Book I 1
Pelias is king of Iolcus and task-giver. In Book I, he hears an oracle that a one-sandaled man will bring about his death: “a hateful doom awaited him to be slain.” He encounters Jason while hosting a banquet for his father Poseidon and the gods, then devises a perilous voyage for Jason so that he may lose his way home among the sea or strangers. Pelias is also the father of Acastus.
In Book II, Pelias’s command sends Jason on the quest, a deed remembered as his “evil behest.” By Book III, Hera is his enemy, vowing to deliver Jason and make Pelias pay for leaving her without sacrifice. She then arranges for Medea to come to Iolcus as “a bane to Pelias,” abandoning her native land.
Relationship record
Life events
- Pelias hears an oracle foretelling his death by a one-sandaled man.(Book I 1)
- “Such was the oracle that Pelias heard, that a hateful doom awaited him to be slain at the prompting of the man whom he should see coming forth from the people with but one sandal.”
- Pelias imposes a perilous voyage on Jason to prevent his return.(Book I 1)
- With: Jason
- “Quickly the king saw him and pondered, and devised for him the toil of a troublous voyage, in order that on the sea or among strangers he might lose his home-return.”
- Pelias imposes the dangerous expedition on Jason.(Book I 2)
- With: Jason
- “Would that on that day when, wretched woman that I am, I heard King Pelias proclaim his evil behest”
- Pelias commands Jason to undertake the quest.(Book II 5)
- With: Jason
- “For I ought, when Pelias gave the command, to have straightway refused this quest to his face”
- Hera vows to deliver Jason and ensure Pelias pays for his outrage.(Book III 1 · 📍 Iolcus)
- Hera devises Medea’s coming to Ioleus as a bane to Pelias.(Book III 9 · 📍 Ioleus)
Book I 1
- servant: Jason “Quickly the king saw him and pondered, and devised for him the toil of a troublous voyage, in order that on the sea or among strangers he might lose his home-return.”
- parent: Poseidon “he came to Pelias to share the banquet which the king was offering to his father Poseidon and the rest of the gods”
Book I 2
- child: Acastus “Acastus son of mighty Pelias himself”
- servant: Jason “when, wretched woman that I am, I heard King Pelias proclaim his evil behest”
Book I 3
- servant: Jason “Apollo Embasius who by an oracle promised to point out and show me the paths of the sea, if by sacrifice to him I should begin my venture for King Pelias”
Book I 8
- servant: Jason (The Argonauts discuss the quest and Pelias’s injunctions with Jason as leader.) “As with Jason, the soft down was just blooming on his chin, nor yet had it been his lot to rejoice in children, but still in his palace his wife was untouched by the pangs of child-birth, the daughter of Percosian Merops, fair-haired Cleite, whom lately by priceless gifts he had brought from her father’s home from the mainland opposite. But even so he left his chamber and bridal bed and prepared a banquet among the strangers, casting all fears from his heart. And they questioned one another in turn. Of them would he learn the end of their voyage and the injunctions of Pelias”
Book II 5
- servant: Jason “For I ought, when Pelias gave the command, to have straightway refused this quest to his face”
Book II 6
- servant: Jason (Pelias’s behests are the orders governing Jason’s quest.) “Aeson’s son told him the lineage and name of each of his comrades and the behests of Pelias”
Book III 1
- enemies with Hera “so that Pelias may not mock at having escaped an evil doom—Pelias who left me unhonoured with sacrifice.”
Book III 9
- enemies with Hera “For thus Hera devised it, that Aeaean Medea might come to Ioleus for a bane to Pelias, forsaking her native land.”
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Extracted from the original text of The Argonautica. Made with Rho MD.