Phrixus

Phrixus was the son of Athamas, king of Boeotia, and his first wife Nephele, and the hero who escaped sacrifice on the back of a golden ram. He reached Colchis, where King Aeetes received him and gave him his daughter Chalciope. The Golden Fleece that Jason and the Argonauts later sailed to Colchis to recover was the skin of Phrixus’ ram.

Family

Apollodorus says that Athamas, who ruled Boeotia, had a son Phrixus and a daughter Helle by Nephele, and later married Ino, by whom he had Learchus and Melicertes (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.1). Phrixus is called an “Aeolid” in Apollonius, since Athamas was a son of Aeolus (Argonautica 2.1141).

Ino’s Plot

In Apollodorus’ account, Ino plotted against the children of Nephele. She persuaded the women to parch the seed wheat, without the men knowing, so that the sown fields gave no crop. Athamas sent to Delphi to ask how to end the famine, and Ino persuaded the messengers to report that the oracle demanded the sacrifice of Phrixus to Zeus. When Athamas heard this, the people of the land forced him to bring Phrixus to the altar (Library 1.9.1). Pindar refers to the same story: Phrixus was saved from the sea and from the “godless darts” of his stepmother (Pythian 4.161–162), and in Apollonius he fled his stepmother’s plot and his father’s sacrifice (Argonautica 3.190–191).

The Flight on the Golden Ram

Nephele snatched up her son and daughter and gave them a ram with a golden fleece, which she had received from Hermes (Library 1.9.1; Apollonius says Hermes made it golden, Argonautica 2.1144–1145). Carried through the sky, they crossed land and sea. Over the sea between Sigeum and the Chersonese, Helle slipped into the deep and drowned, and the sea was called the Hellespont after her (Library 1.9.1).

Phrixus in Colchis

Phrixus came to the Colchians, ruled by Aeetes, a son of the Sun and Perseis and brother of Circe and Pasiphae. Aeetes received him and gave him one of his daughters, Chalciope (Library 1.9.1; Argonautica 2.1147–1149). Phrixus sacrificed the ram to Zeus as the god of Escape (Zeus Phyxios), and gave the fleece to Aeetes, who nailed it to an oak in a grove of Ares (Library 1.9.1). Apollonius describes the fleece lying spread on the oak branches, guarded by a watchful serpent (Argonautica 2.1268–1270).

Children and Death

Phrixus and Chalciope had sons: Argus, Melas, Phrontis and Cytisorus in Apollodorus (Library 1.9.1). Apollonius lists the same four, and says that Phrixus died as an old man in the house of Aeetes; his sons then set out for Orchomenus, on their father’s instructions, to claim the possessions of Athamas (Argonautica 2.1150–1156). On the way they were shipwrecked and met the Argonauts, and Jason asked them to guide the Argo to Colchis and help him bring back the golden fleece (Argonautica 2.1178–1195).

The Fleece and the House of Athamas

In Pindar, Pelias is troubled by a dream: the spirit of Phrixus demands that someone go to the house of Aeetes and bring back his soul and the thick-fleeced ram skin that had saved him (Pythian 4.159–163). This is the task Pelias gives to Jason. In Apollonius Jason says he sails to make the sacrifice for Phrixus, to appease the wrath of Zeus on the Aeolids (Argonautica 2.1194–1195). Herodotus reports a related cult tradition at Alus in Achaea, where the story was told of how Athamas plotted the death of Phrixus with Ino: the descendants of Phrixus’ son Cytisorus are liable to sacrifice if the eldest enters the town-hall, because Cytisorus came from Colchis and rescued Athamas when the Achaeans were about to sacrifice him as a scapegoat, and so brought the anger of the god upon his own descendants (Herodotus 7.197).

Phrixus Sources

Apollodorus, Library 1.9.1; Pindar, Pythian 4.159–163; Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 2.1141–1156, 2.1178–1195, 2.1268–1270, 3.190–191; Herodotus 7.197.

See Also: Athamas, Nephele, Helle, Ino, Golden Fleece, Argonauts, Jason, Zeus, Aeetes, Chalciope