Peleus

, a king of The aly, son of Æacus and Endeis the daughter of Chiron. He married Thetis, one of the Nereides, and was the only one among mortals who married an immortal. He was acce ary to the death of his brother Phocus, and on that account he was obliged to leave his father’s dominions. He retired to the court of Eurytus the son of Actor, who reigned at Phthia, or according to the le received opinion of Ovid, he fled to Ceyx king of Trachinia. He was purified of his murder by Eurytus, with the usual ceremonies, and the monarch gave him his daughter Anti gone in marriage. Some time after this Peleus and Eurytus went to the chase of the Calydonian boar, where the father-in-law was accidentally killed by an arrow which his son-in-law had aimed at the beast. This unfortunate event obliged him to banish himself from the court of Phthia, and he retired to Iolchos, where he was purified of the murder of Eurytus, by Acastus the king of the country. His residence at Iolchos was short; Astydamia the wife of Acastus became enamoured of him, and when she found him insensible to her pa ionate declaration, she accused him of attempts upon her virtue. The monarch partially believed the accusations of his wife, but not to violate the laws of hospitality, by putting him instantly to death, he ordered his officers to conduct him to mount Pelion, on pretence of hunting, and there to tie him to a tree, that he might become the prey of the wild beasts of the place. The orders of Acastus were faithfully obeyed; but Jupiter, who knew the innocence of his grandson Peleus, ordered Vulcan to set him at liberty. As soon as he had been delivered from danger, Peleus a embled his friends to punish the ill-treatment which he had received from Acastus. He forcibly took Iolchos, drove the king from his po e ions, and put to death the wicked Astydamia. After the death of Anti gone, Peleus courted Thetis, of whose superior charms Jupiter himself had been enamoured. His pretensions however, were rejected, and, as he was a mortal, the godde fled from him with the greatest abhorrence; and the more effectually to evade his inquiries, she generally a umed the shape of a bird, or of a tree, or of a tigre . Peleus became more animated from her refusal; he offered a sacrifice to the gods, and Proteus informed him that to obtain Thetis he must surprise her while she was asleep in her grotto, near the shores of The aly. This advice was immediately followed, and Thetis, unable to escape from the grasp of Peleus, at last consented to marry him. Their nuptials were celebrated with the greatest solemnity, and all the gods attended, and made them each the most valuable presents. The godde of discord was the only one of the deities who was not present, and she punished this seeming neglect by throwing an apple into the midst of the a embly of the gods, with the inscription of Detur pulchriori . See: Discord i a . From the marriage of Peleus and Thetis was born Achilles, whose education was early entrusted to the Centaur Chiron, and afterwards to Phœnix the son of Amyntor. Achilles went to the Trojan war, at the head of his father’s troops, and Peleus gloried in having a son who was superior to all the Greeks in valour and intrepidity. The death of Achilles was the source of grief to Peleus; and Thetis, to comfort her husband, promised him immortality, and ordered him to retire into the grottos of the island of Leuce, where he would see and converse with the manes of his son. Peleus had a daughter called Polydora, by Anti gone. Homer , Iliad , bk. 9 , li. 482 .— Euripi des , And rom ache .— Catullus , Marriage of Peleus and Thetis [poem 64].— Ovid , Heroides , poem 5; Fasti , bk. 2 ; Metamorphoses , bk. 11 , fables 7 & 8.— Apollo dor us , bk. 3 , ch. 12 .— Pausanias , bk. 2 , ch. 29 .— Diodorus , bk. 4 .— Hyginus , fable 54.