IXION (king of the Lapiths)

Ixion first secured his marriage to Dia, daughter of Eïoneus, by promising lavish gifts to her father.⁴ After the wedding, he refused to pay the promised tribute and killed Eïoneus by casting him into a pit filled with fire.⁴ No human was willing to purify him of this bloodshed, which marked him as the first person to shed blood.^4,5 Zeus ultimately purified Ixion of the murder, allowing him to act as a suppliant before the gods.^4,5

Invited to a divine banquet, Ixion consumed nectar and, after seeing the beauties of Heaven, formed ambitious romantic schemes.⁶ He made advances to Hera, sighing and groaning as he kissed the cup she had used.^4,3 From this union, Ixion begat the Centaurs, including Nessus, who were the first to attempt riding horses.^7,2

Ixion boasted of his success with Hera, though she had rejected him and reported his behavior to Zeus.^8,3 The king of the gods bound Ixion to a whirling wheel in the hidden realms of the underworld.^1,8,9,4,10 There, he sat on a couch propped by golden pillars, bound by brazen chains with a crag of flint hanging over his head.^1,11 The wheel never stopped its flight, and Ixion writhed upon it, both following and fleeing from himself in eternal motion.^12,13,14

In his punishment, Ixion swooned during the long circlings of the wheel, a fate that even the music of Orpheus could only briefly pause.^15,16 Hera looked upon him with a stern expression, while the eldest Fury prevented him from feasting by waving a firebrand.^14,1 Hera intended to free Ixion from his chains if necessary to save Jason.¹¹ Ixion remains a figure who, by the gods' command, writhes on a winged wheel, proclaiming a message to men about rewarding those who serve them.¹³