Peirithoos
Peirithoos ( ancient Greek Πειρίθοος Peiríthoos , Latin Perithous ) is king of the Lapiths in Thessaly in Greek mythology .
He was born of Dia and is either the son of Zeus or Ixion . At the celebration of his marriage to Hippodameia or Deidameia, a daughter of the Lapith Atrax , the famous battle between the Centaurs and Lapiths took place at the foot of Pelion , in which the former were defeated.
Intoxicated with wine, Eurytion had caused the quarrel by trying to do violence to Hippodameia. According to other sources, Ares initiated the fight because the gods alone had not invited him to the festival. The fight was often chosen by artists as the subject of the depiction, for example in the western gable of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia , on the west frieze of the Hephaisteion in Athens , at the Temple of Apollo in Phigalia and on the metopes of the Parthenon in Athens.
The legend of Peirithoos and Theseus' friendship seems to have a later origin . The latter fought against the Centaurs at Peirithoo's wedding festival, for which his friend helped him kidnap Helena from Sparta . Theseus later accompanied him to the underworld to assist him in the planned kidnapping of Persephone . But when the daring sat down here, tired, they felt tied up and were unable to get up again (this is how it was represented by Polygnotos in the Lesche der Knidier at Delphi). Heracles , when he brought Kerberus out of the underworld, wanted to free them; but he only succeeded in doing this with Peirithoos at the expense of his buttocks. Peirithoos had a heroon with Theseus in Athens .
literature
- Karl Kerényi : The Mythology of the Greeks - The Gods and Human Stories . dtv, Munich 1994. ISBN 3-423-30030-2 .
- Michael Grant and John Hazel: Lexicon of Ancient Myths and Figures . dtv, Munich 2004. ISBN 3-423-32508-9 .
- Robert von Ranke-Graves : Greek Mythology - Sources and Interpretation . rororo, Hamburg 2001. ISBN 3-499-55404-6 .