Phrixus’s Family Tree

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Family

• Athamas(parent),Nephele(parent),Helle(sibling)— Marriage

  King Athamas of Orchomenus married the cloud nymph Nephele, and they had two children: Phrixus and Helle. Nephele later departed, and Athamas took Ino as his second wife.

Slew

• Chrysomallus

  Phrixus sacrificed Chrysomallus to Zeus upon arriving safely in Colchis, offering the ram that had saved his life. He then gave the golden fleece to King Aeetes.

Associated with

• Aeetes

  King Aeetes of Colchis welcomed Phrixus when he arrived on the golden ram and gave him his daughter Chalciope in marriage. Phrixus sacrificed the ram and presented its golden fleece to Aeetes, who hung it in the grove of Ares.

• Ares

  Phrixus hung the Golden Fleece in the sacred grove of Ares in Colchis after sacrificing the ram Chrysomallus. The war god's grove and its guardian serpent protected the fleece until Jason retrieved it.

• Chrysomallus

  Chrysomallus carried Phrixus through the sky from Greece to Colchis, rescuing him from sacrifice. Phrixus then sacrificed the ram to Zeus and hung its golden fleece in Ares's grove.

• Colchis

  Phrixus arrived in Colchis on the golden ram Chrysomallus, fleeing his stepmother Ino. King Aeetes welcomed him, and Phrixus sacrificed the ram and hung its fleece in the grove of Ares.

• Golden Fleece

  Phrixus flew to Colchis on the golden ram Chrysomallus, sacrificed it to Zeus upon arrival, and gave its fleece to King Aeetes — placing the Golden Fleece in Colchis and setting the stage for Jason's quest.

• Helle

  Helle and her brother Phrixus fled together on the golden ram Chrysomallus sent by their mother Nephele. Phrixus held on and reached Colchis, but Helle fell from the ram into the strait below.

• Ino

  Phrixus's stepmother Ino plotted to have him sacrificed by parching the city's seed grain and bribing messengers to deliver a false oracle demanding Phrixus's death. Her scheme was thwarted when Nephele sent the golden ram to rescue her children.

• Jason

  Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece was undertaken to reclaim the treasure that Phrixus had brought to Colchis generations earlier. In Apollonius's Argonautica, the ghost of Phrixus appeared to Jason's uncle Pelias demanding the fleece's return.