Aison (mythology)

Aison ( Greek  Αἴσων , Latin Aeson) is in Greek mythology the son of Tyro and Cretheus , and the father of Jason and the Promachos . He has a brother Pheres and two half-brothers Pelias and Neleus .

Pelias was greedy for power and aspired to rule over all of Thessaly . To this end, he banished Neleus and lured Aison to the caves of Iolkos . Aison married Alkimede in the caves and fathered several children with her. Jason, the most famous of these children, was sent to Cheiron for training. Meanwhile, Pelias was warned by the Pythia in the Oracle of Delphi about a man with only one sandal .

Many years later , when Jason came to Iolkos, Pelias was holding the Olympics in honor of Poseidon . He only wore one sandal, as he had lost the other in a river while helping a traveler across. Frightened Pelias asked Jason what he would do if he met the man who was his destiny. Jason replied that he would send him to search for the Golden Fleece . Pelias, following this advice, sent Jason on a journey to find the fleece.

During Jason's absence, Pelias thought the Argo had sunk and told Aison and Promachos about Jason's death, who then killed themselves with poison.

In an alternate version, Aison survived until Jason and his new wife Medea came back to Iolkos. Medea severed Aison's neck, divided his body, and boiled it. Aison came back to life and was rejuvenated. Pelias' daughters wanted to imitate this and killed their father.

literature

• Roscher: Aison . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1,1, Leipzig 1886, column 197 ( digitized version ).
• Konrad Wernicke : Aison 3 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, Col. 1086 f.

Web links

• Aison in the Greek Myth Index (English)