Neleus (son of Poseidon)

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Neleus (Greek Νηλεύς) is in Greek mythology the son of Poseidon and Tyro and twin brother of Pelias .

Tyro was married to King Cretheus of Iolkos , with whom they had their sons Aison , Pheres and Amythaon . However, she loved the Oceanid Enipeus , a river god. She then tried to seduce him, but Enipeus resisted her advances. One day Poseidon, who in turn was inflamed with passion for Tyro, approached her in the form of Enipeus and did with the deceived Tyro that which Enipeus was decently unable to do. The twins Neleus and Pelias came from this connection .

Both were abandoned by their mother for fear of her husband's jealousy, but found by a horse herdsman and (according to another version) brought up by a maid. When the brothers grew up, they found their way back to their mother. However, Pelias killed Tire's stepmother , Sidero , for continuing to treat Tyro badly and cruelly. Since he himself murdered her on the altar in the temple of Hera , where she had taken refuge, Pelias incurred the inextinguishable wrath of the mother of gods.

The power-hungry Pelias, however, sought rule over all of Thessaly and sent Neleus and Pheres into exile while he lured Aison into the caves of Iolkos .

Neleus then moved to Messenia in the southwest of the Peloponnese . There he settled with the sons of his half-brother Amythaons. Tire's cousin Aphareus supposedly allowed him to build the city of Pylos in the coastal region . After the death of his sons, Aphareus appointed his nephew as his successor, so that Neleus ruled as king over all of Messenia. Together with Chloris , Neleus was the father of Pero , Periklymenus , who was his firstborn, Alastor and Nestor .

When Herakles later came to him to be cleansed by Neleus in his capacity as priest-king of the maddened murder of Iphitus , Neleus, who was friends with Iphitus' father, refused. In revenge, Heracles later went against Pylos and slew the sons of Neleus with the exception of Nestor.

After Pausanias , Neleus restored the Olympic Games with Pelias and died in Corinth .

References

  1. ↑ Pseudo-Apollodor Library 2,6,2

literature

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