Φριξος

One of the offspring of [ATHAMAS] and [Nephele], and the brother of [Helle]. On the advice of his second wife [INO] Athamas decided to sacrifice Phrixus and Helle to [Zeus Laphystius], but [Zeus] sent the two children a ram with a [golden fleece] which carried them off, saving them from being sacrificed. According to another version, it was Nephele rather than Zeus who provided the children with the [ram], which she had obtained from [Hermes]. Phrixus and Helle left [Orchomenus] and flew off to the East, but Helle fell into the sea and drowned. Her brother arrived safely in [Colchis] at the court of [Aeetes] who received him hospitably and gave him the hand of his daughter [Chalciope] in marriage. In return, Phrixus sacrified the ram to Zeus and presented the [fleece] to the king. Aeetes dedicated the fleece to [Ares] and hung it up on a nail on an oak tree in a wood sacred to that god. It was this fleece which was the prize sought by the [Argonauts]. By Chalciope Phrixus had several children, notably [Argos], [Melas], [Phrontis] and [Cytissorus]. Phrixus spent the remained of his life in Aeetes' palace and died there at an advanced age, [whilst] his sons went back to Orchomenus where the throne was restored to them.

In another version [Aeetes] killed Phrixus, because an [oracle] had predicted that the king would die at the hands of a descendant of [Aeolus]. This tradition, which in mentioned by [Hyginus], is probably part of a reworking of the myth by the [tragedian]s. The same text tells how Phrixus and [Helle], having been saved from the sacrifice, were punished with madness by [Dionysus] for trying to take revenge on [Ino].

{[Dictionary of Classical Mythology|E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY]}

[Classical Mythology: Sources|Table of Sources]:
- Apoll. Rhod. Arg. 2,1140ff.;
- schol. on 1144;
- Hdt. 7,197;
- Palaeph. Incred. 31;
- Paus. 9,34,5;
- Apollod. Bibl. 1,9,1; 1,9,16; 1,9,21;
- Hyg. Fab. 1ff.; 12; 14; 21f.; 188; 245;
- Pseudo-Eratosth. Catast. 19.

Phrixus (person)