ATHAMAS (son of Minyas or Aeolus in Greek mythology)

Athamas led the Minyans from Orchomenus to settle in the city of Teos, which he founded and which was known as Athamantis.^8,9 He also established the settlement of Halus and received territory around Mount Laphystius from a companion, adopting Haliartus and Coronus as his heirs.^10,11 His marriages included Ino and Themisto, the daughter of Hypseus, while he also had a son and daughter with the woman Nephele.^1,12,13 These unions produced a large family, including Phrixus, Helle, Learchus, and sons named Leucon, Erythrius, Schoeneus, and Ptous.^14,15,1,4

Hera drove Athamas into a state of madness, an affliction one account attributes to Tisiphone throwing snakes at him, though it notes the madness was caused by poison and torch flames.^16,17,7 Other accounts said Zeus removed reason from his heart, or that he was poisoned by a mixture of venom and blood thrown into his chest.^18,7 In his rage, he commanded companions to spread nets in the woods to catch a lioness and chased his wife through the palace as if she were a wild beast.⁷ He boiled poison in a hollow vessel of brass with hemlock, a habit that marked his descent into insanity.⁷

The crisis reached its peak when some accounts say the people forced him to sacrifice Phrixus, while others claim he conspired with Ino to arrange the boy's death.^1,2 He prepared to sacrifice Phrixus and Helle at the precinct of Laphystian Zeus, though a stepmother also plotted against the boy in other versions.^19,15 Zeus sent a golden-fleeced ram to save the children, and the son of Athamas fled from Orchomenus accompanied by this ram.^19,20 The fleeing child was received in the home of Dipsaeus near the river Phyllis, while the sons of Phrixus later traveled to Orehomenus to claim the possessions of Athamas.^20,21

The madness claimed further victims, as Athamas snatched his infant son Learchus from his mother's arms.⁷ He whirled the infant in the air like a sling before killing him, dashing the bones against hard stones, while other accounts said he killed the boy with an arrow or out of rage against Ino.^7,4,22 Ino threw herself and their son Melicertes into the sea, while the house of Athamas was agreed to belong to him and his descendants, though he was eventually exiled from Boeotia.^4,23 After consulting a god, he dwelt in a region where wolves fled from him, fulfilling an oracle, and named the area Athamantia after his own name.⁴