Ixoin

In class last Tuesday we heard a quick story of Ixion who was deemed to be punished on a wheel for ever. Ixion was the son of Antion and Perimela. He was a king in Thessaly and a thoroughly bad hombre. His sins began when he married Dia the daughter of Eioneus but, failed to bring the agreed bride price. Eioneus held his mares as security on the dept. Ixion then lured Eioneus to his kingdom with the promise of payment. Once there he murdered Eioneus by throwing him into a flaming pit.

The Greeks considered the murder of kin to be a particularly horrendous act. No man or god would purify him of it. Zeus finally decided to purify him, possibly because Zeus had taken an interest in Dia. Ixion went to Olympus for the ritual.

Once in Olympus Ixion attempted to seduce Hera . She informed Zeus, who decided to test Ixion by shaping a cloud to look like Hera and placed it in Ixion's bed. Ixion took the bait and was caught in the act with the cloud. For this Zeus chain him to a fiery wheel, either in the sky or the underworld, for eternity.

In this picture it also looks like there is a snake around him, I don't know that that mean so if anyone has any input let me know.