Brill’s New Pauly

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Ixion
(205 words)

[German version]

(Ἰξίων; Ixíōn). Thessalian king and one of the great sinners being punished in the Underworld. According to Pindar, he is the first murderer of a relative (Pindar leaves the identity of the victim open, later - Pherecydes FGrH 3 F 51 - it is his father-in-law Eïoneus). When Zeus purifies him personally from the blood of murder (Aesch. Eum. 717f.) and takes him to himself, he wants to indecently assault Hera; but Zeus substitutes a cloud for her and I. fathers the first  Centaurs (understood etymologically and playfully as ‘wind spearers’ and related to the beget…

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Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH), “Ixion”, in: Brill’s New Pauly, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and , Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry. Consulted online on 09 December 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e604650>
First published online: 2006
First print edition: 9789004122598, 20110510



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