In Greek mythology, Pēleús (Greek: Πηλεύς) was the son of Endeïs and Aeacus, King of Aegina, and father of Achilles. He and his brother Telamon were friends with Heracles, serving in his expedition against the Amazons and his war against King Laomedon. Peleus and Telamon, his brother, killed their half-brother, Phocus and fled Aegina to escape punishment. In Phthia, Peleus was purified by Eurytion and married Antigone, Eurytion's daughter. Peleus accidentally killed Eurytion during the hunt for the Calydonian Boar and fled for Phthia. Peleus was purifed of the murder of Eurytion in Iolcus by Acastus. Astydameia, Acastus' wife, fell in love with Peleus but he scorned her. Bitter, she sent a messenger to Antigone to tell her that Peleus was to marry Acastus' daughter; Antigone hanged herself. Astydameia then told Acastus that Peleus had tried to rape her. Acastus took Peleus on a hunting trip and hid his sword, then abandoned him right before a group of centaurs attacked. Chiron, the wise centaur, returned Peleus' sword and Peleus managed to escape. He pillaged Iolcus and dismembered Astydameia, then marched his army between the pieces.
After Antigone's death, Peleus married the sea-nymph Thetis and fathered Achilles by her. As a wedding present, Poseidon gave Peleus two immortal horses: Balius and Xanthus. Their wedding, however, was also the beginning of the quarrel that led to the Judgement of Paris. In an early and less popular version of the story, Thetis anointed the boy in ambrosia and put him on top of a fire to burn away the mortal parts of his body. She was interrupted by Peleus and she abandoned both father and son in a rage, leaving his heel vulnerable (a nearly identical story is told by Plutarch, in his On Isis and Osiris, of the goddess Isis burning away the mortality of Prince Maneros of Byblos, son of Queen Astarte, and being likewise interrupted before completing the process). Peleus gave him to Chiron, on Mt. Pelion (which took its name from Peleus), to raise. There are two versions of Peleus' fate:
- The sons of Acastus exiled him from Phthia and he died
- He was reunited with Thetis and made immortal.
References
- Apollodorus, Bibliotheke I, ix, 16 and III, ix,2 and xii, 6- xiii,7; Epitome vi, 13.
- Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica IV,805- 879
- Ovid, Metamorphoses VIII, 299-381.
- Homer, Iliad XVIII, 78-87;
- Euripides, Andromache.
