Pe´lias

Son of Neptune and Tyro. On his birth he was exposed in the woods, but his life was preserved by some shepherds. Subsequently Tyro was married to Cretheus, king of Iolchos. They had three children, of whom Æson was the eldest. Pelias visited his mother after the death of Cretheus, and usurped the authority which properly belonged to the children of the deceased monarch. Jason, the son of Æson, who had been educated by Chiron, on attaining manhood demanded the kingdom, the government of which Pelias had usurped. Jason was persuaded by Pelias to waive his claim for the present, and start on the Argonautic expedition. On his return, accompanied by the sorcere Medea, she undertook to restore Pelias to youth, explaining that it was nece ary first to cut his body to pieces and place the limbs in a caldron of boiling water. This was done, when Medea refused to fulfill her promise, which she had solemnly made to the daughters of Pelias, who were four in number, and who had received the patronymic of the “Peliades.”