MYTHS OF LOCAL HEROES AND HEROINES^605
to Eurytion of Phthia, who purified him and gave him part of his kingdom.
Peleus accompanied Eurytion on the Calydonian boar hunt (see pp. 608-612)
and accidentally killed him with a javelin intended for the boar. He went into
exile again, and was purified by Acastus, son of Pelias and king of Iolcus.
Now the wife of Acastus, Astydamia, fell in love with Peleus; and when he
refused her advances, she accused him before her husband of trying to seduce
her.^2 Rather than kill his guest, Acastus took him hunting on Mt. Pelion, where
he left him asleep, but not before hiding his sword (a gift from Hephaestus) in
a pile of dung. Peleus awoke to find himself surrounded by wild animals and
centaurs, who would have killed him had not Chiron protected him and given
him back his sword.^3
When Zeus avoided a union with Thetis, whose son was destined to be greater
than his father (see pp. 90 and 147), she was given to Peleus because of his virtue.
The wedding feast was celebrated on Mt. Pelion, and all the gods and goddesses
came as guests. With them came Eris (Discord) as an uninvited guest, bringing the
apple that eventually led to the judgment of Paris and the Trojan War. Peleus re-
turned to Phthia where he became the father of Achilles. Thetis soon left Peleus,
angry because he interrupted her while she was making Achilles immortal.^4
After the death of Achilles, Peleus defended Andromache at Delphi against
Orestes and Hermione, who had killed his grandson Neoptolemus, the son of
Achilles. At the end of Euripides' tragedy Andromache, Thetis reappears and
promises Peleus immortality and eternal reunion with her in her ocean dwelling.SALMONEUS
A group of Thessalian stories is associated with the family of Aeolus (see Fig-
ure 24.1, p. 574). Salmoneus, a son of Aeolus, left Thessaly and founded Salmone
in Elis. He dressed himself as Zeus and imitated the god's thunder and light-
ning by driving in a chariot with brazen vessels attached to it and hurling lighted
torches until Zeus killed him with his thunderbolt. Vergil describes his crime
and fate (Aeneid 6. 585-594):f
l saw Salmoneus also being cruelly punished, who imitated the flames of Jupiter
and the thunder of Olympus. He drove arrogantly through the Greek states and
the city in the middle of Elis, riding in a chariot drawn by four horses, and he
demanded that he be honored like a god. He was mad, because he tried to im-
itate the storm-clouds and the lightning that cannot be imitated with bronze and
the clatter of horses' hooves. But Jupiter, all-powerful, hurled his thunderbolt
through the thick clouds and cast him headlong down with a violent whirlwind.CEYX AND ALCYONE
Ceyx, king of Trachis and son of Eosphoros (Lucifer, the Morning Star), and his
wife Alcyone, daughter of Aeolus, called themselves Zeus and Hera. They were