In Greek mythology, Athamas (Ancient Greek: Ἀθάμας) was a Boeotian king. He was formerly a Thessalian prince.
Mythology[]
Marriage with Nephele[]

King Athamas steals Nephele's clothes so that she cant float by Henry Justice Ford
He first saw her when he went exploring in his kingdom when he happened upon a hill where at the top he saw a beautiful woman bathing, where he fell in love at first sight, He was then told in a dream by Aphrodite to steal her clothes while bathing so he could be with her.[1] He then married Nephele, and had twins, a son, Phrixus, and a daughter, Helle. But after this he divorced her for Ino.
Marriage with Ino[]

The Fury Tisiphone at the Palace of Athamas
Phrixus and Helle were hated by their stepmother, Ino. Ino hatched a devious plot to get rid of the twins, roasting all the town's crop seeds so they would not grow. The local farmers, frightened of famine, asked a nearby oracle for assistance. Ino bribed the men sent to the oracle to lie and tell the others that the oracle required the sacrifice of Phrixus. Athamas reluctantly agreed. But, before Phrixus could be killed, he and Helle were spirited away by a flying golden ram sent by Nephele, their natural mother. Helle fell off the ram into the Hellespont (which was named after her) and died, but Phrixus survived all the way to Colchis, where King Aeëtes took him in and treated him kindly, giving Phrixus his daughter Chalciope in marriage. In gratitude, Phrixus gave the king the Golden Fleece of the ram, which Aeëtes hung in a tree in his kingdom.
Later, Ino raised Dionysus, her nephew, son of her sister Semele, causing Hera's intense jealousy. In vengeance, Hera struck Athamas with insanity. Athamas went mad and slew one of his sons, Learchus; Ino, to escape the pursuit of her frenzied husband, threw herself into the sea with her son Melicertes. Both were afterwards worshipped as marine divinities, Ino as Leucothea, Melicertes as Palaemon.
Marriage with Themisto[]
Athamas, with the guilt of his son's murder upon him, was obliged to flee from Boeotia. He was ordered by the oracle to settle in a place where he should receive hospitality from wild beasts. This he found at Phthiotis in Thessaly, where he surprised some wolves eating sheep; on his approach they fled, leaving him the bones. Athamas, regarding this as the fulfilment of the oracle, settled there and married a third wife, Themisto (sons: Schoeneus, Leucon, Ptous and/or others). The spot was afterwards called the Athamanian plain. When Athamas returned to his second wife, Ino, Themisto sought revenge by dressing her children in white clothing and Ino's in black. Ino switched their clothes without Themisto's knowledge, and she killed her own children.
Family[]
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