View source for Aeëtes

{{short description|Greek mythical character}}
{{distinguish|Aëtos}}
{{Infobox noble|type
| name              = Aeëtes
| title             = King of [[Colchis]]
| image             = Aeëtes, Bartolomeo di Giovanni.jpg
| caption           = King Aeëtes by [[Bartolomeo di Giovanni]]
| alt               = Aeëtes
| succession        = King of Colchis
| predecessor       = None (office established)
| successor         = [[Perses of Colchis|Perses]]
| CoA               = 
| more              = 
| heir              = [[Absyrtus]]
| spouse            = [[Idyia]]
| spouse-type       = Wife
| issue             = [[Medea]], [[Absyrtus]], [[Chalciope]]
| father            = [[Helios]]
| mother            = [[Perse (mythology)|Perseis]]
}}
'''Aeëtes''' ({{IPAc-en|iː|ˈ|iː|t|iː|z}} {{respell|ee|EE|teez}}; {{Langx|grc|Αἰήτης|Aiḗtēs}}, {{IPA|grc|ai̯.ɛ̌ːtɛːs|IPA}}), or '''Aeeta''', was the ruler of the eponymous realm of Aea in [[Greek mythology]], a wondrous realm which from the fifth century B.C.E. onward became identified with the kingdom of [[Colchis]] east in the [[Black Sea]].<ref>[[Pindar]] ''Pythian Odes'' 4.11, 4.212; [[Simonides]] PMG545 (Schol. Eur. Med. 19).</ref> The name comes from the ancient Greek word {{Lang|grc|[[wikt:ἀετός|αἰετός]]}} ({{Lang|grc-Latn|aietós}}, "eagle").<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=75rcKJQ6X-MC&q=kirkos+hawk&pg=PA28|title=Transformations of Circe: The History of an Enchantress|last=Yarnall|first=Judith|date=Jan 1, 1994|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=0252063562|page=28|access-date=2015-06-30}}</ref>

== Family ==
Aeëtes was the son of Sun god [[Helios]] and the [[Oceanid]] [[Perse (mythology)|Perseis]], brother of [[Circe]], [[Perses (brother of Aeetes)|Perses]] and [[Pasiphaë]], and father of [[Medea]], [[Chalciope of Colchis|Chalciope]] and [[Absyrtus]]. His consort was either (1) [[Idyia]], the youngest daughter of [[Oceanus]],<ref>Hesiod, ''Theogony'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+960 960]; [[Apollonius Rhodius]],  [https://archive.org/stream/argonautica00apoluoft#page/210/mode/2up 3.243–244]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], 1.9.23; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' 25;  [[Cicero]], ''[[De Natura Deorum]]'' 3.19</ref> (2) [[Asterodia|Asterodeia]], a [[Caucasus|Caucasian]] Oceanid,<ref>Apollonius of Rhodes, ''Argonautica'' 3.241</ref> (3) the Nereid [[Neaera (mythology)|Neaera]],<ref name=":0">Scholia ad Apollonius Rhodius, 3.242</ref><ref>Preston's note to Apollonius of Rhodes, 3.330 "Asterodea" ([https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_TSVAAAAAYAAJ#page/n175/mode/1up p. 168]) quoting "Sophocles assigns them, as their parent, Neera, one of the Nereids" & "Now in his hands" ([https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_TSVAAAAAYAAJ#page/n220/mode/1up p. 269]) quoting "In his Scythians, [[Sophocles]] says, that Absyrtus was not the uterine brother of Medea: they were not the offspring of one bed; the youth was newly sprung from a Nereid.—Eiduia, the daughter of Ocean, bore the virgin.  "</ref> (4) [[Clytie|Clytia]],<ref>Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' Preface</ref> (5) [[Ipsia]]<ref>Scholia ad Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' 23</ref> or [[Eurylyte (mythology)|Eurylyte]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>Preston's note to Apollonius of Rhodes, 3.330 "''Asterodea''" ([https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_TSVAAAAAYAAJ#page/n175/mode/1up p. 168]) quoting the name of Aeetes' wife: "The author of the Naupactica calls her Eurylyte".</ref>

According to others, he was the brother of Perses, a king of [[History of Crimea|Tauris]], husband of his niece [[Hecate]], and father of Medea, Chalciope and Absyrtus. Yet other versions make Aeëtes a native of [[Corinth]] and son of [[Ephyra (mythology)|Ephyra]], an Oceanid,<ref>[[Epimenides]] in scholia ad Apollonius Rhodius,  3.242</ref> or else of a certain [[Antiope (Greek myth)|Antiope]].<ref>Scholia ad [[Pindar]]'', Olympian Ode'' 13.52; [[Diophantus]] in scholia ad Apollonius Rhodius,  3.242; [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]] ad [[Lycophron]], [https://topostext.org/work/860#174 174]</ref>{{AI-generated source|date=November 2024}} [[Asterope (Greek myth)|Asterope]] was also one of the possible mothers of Aeëtes.<ref>''[[Argonautica Orphica]]'' 1216</ref> (For a comparative table of Aeëtes' family, see [[Aeëtes#Family table|below]]).

== Mythology ==
=== Foundation of Colchis ===
[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] states that, according to the poet [[Eumelus of Corinth|Eumelos]], Aeëtes was the son of Helios (from northern [[Peloponnesus]]) and brother of [[Aloeus]]. Helios divided the land he ruled, and he gave Aloeus the part in Asopia (see [[Asopus]]) and Aeëtes the part of Ephyra ([[Ancient Corinth#Prehistory and founding myths|Corinth]]). Later, Aeëtes gave his kingdom to [[Bounos]], a son of [[Hermes]] and Alkidameia, and went to Colchis, a country in western [[Caucasus]]. When Bounos died, [[Epopeus]], a son of Aloeus who ruled in Asopia, became king of Ephyra too. Aeëtes built a new colony in Colchis, near the mouth of the large river [[Phasis (river)|Phasis]], and called it [[Kutaisi|Aea]].

=== Flight of two siblings ===
[[Phrixus]], son of [[Athamas]] and [[Nephele]], along with his twin, [[Helle (mythology)|Helle]], were hated by their stepmother, [[Ino (Greek mythology)|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 but before they were able to kill him, Phrixus and Helle were rescued by a 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 Aeëtes took him in and treated him kindly, giving Phrixus his daughter Chalciope in marriage. In gratitude, Phrixus gave the king the [[Golden Fleece|golden fleece]] of the ram, which Aeëtes hung on a tree in his kingdom. Aeëtes dedicated the golden fleece to [[Ares]].<ref>Roman, L., & Roman, M. (2010). {{Google books|tOgWfjNIxoMC|Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman mythology.|page=12}}</ref> Phrixus thus lived at the court of Aeëtes for a long time but one day Aeëtes learned from an oracle that he would die at the hands of a descendant of Aeolus and so he killed Phryxus.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae1.html|title=Hyginus, Fabulae 1-49 - Theoi Classical Texts Library|access-date=2022-03-28}}</ref> His sons, on the other hand, managed to return to Orchomenus.

===The Argonauts===
Some time later, [[Jason]] arrived to claim the fleece as his own. Aeëtes promised to give it to him only if he could perform certain tasks. First, Jason had to plow a field with fire-breathing oxen that he had to yoke himself. Then, Jason sowed into a field the [[dragon's teeth (mythology)|teeth of a dragon]] which the Colchian king received from [[Athena]], half of it was sowed before by [[Cadmus]] in [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]].<ref>Apollodorus, 1.9.23</ref> These teeth sprouted into an army of warriors. Jason was quick-thinking, however, and before they attacked him, he threw a rock into the crowd. Unable to determine whence the rock had come, the soldiers killed each other. Jason then ran away. Medea fled, too. Aeëtes pursued them in his own ship as they fled, but Medea distracted her father by killing and dismembering her brother, Absyrtus, and throwing pieces of his cadaver overboard. Aeëtes paused to gather the pieces of his son, and thus Jason and Medea escaped.

== Historicity ==
The mythical Aeetes may have reflected a memory of a historical personage. His name recurs in historical narratives of [[classical antiquity|Classical authors]] who claim the enduring legacy of Aeëtes in Colchis. [[Arrian]], touring the region in the 2nd century, reports seeing sites and ruins from Aeetes' time. The 5th-century author [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]] mentions "a palace of Aeetes" standing at the mouth of the [[Rioni River|Phasis]]. Local rulers are claimed to have descended from Aeëtes, such as a king of the [[Phasians]] from [[Xenophon]]'s [[Anabasis (Xenophon)|''Anabasis'']] and [[Saulaces]], a gold-rich king of Colchis, from [[Pliny the Elder]]'s [[Natural History (Pliny)|''Naturalis Historia'']]. [[Strabo]], who treated Aeetes as a historical person, writes that this was "a local name among the Colchians".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Braund|first1=David|title=Georgia in Antiquity: A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia, 550 BC–AD 562|date=1994|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=0198144733|pages=[https://archive.org/details/georgiainantiqui0000brau/page/11 11, 30, 90–91]|url=https://archive.org/details/georgiainantiqui0000brau/page/11}}</ref> The name of Aeëtes was borne by a historical Colchian, a 6th-century nobleman in [[Lazica]] in the times of [[Lazic War]] known from [[Agathias]]'s account. If naming Aeëtes as the ancestor of the Colchian rulers was not the invention of the classical authors, it is possible that the Colchian rulers regarded themselves as descendants of Aeetes.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lordkipanidze|first1=Otar|title=Colchis in Antiquity|journal=Archaeologia|date=1968|volume=19|pages=35–41}}</ref>

== Family table ==
{| class="wikitable style="width:100%;
|+Comparative table of Aeetes' family
! rowspan="3" |Relation
! rowspan="3" |Name
! colspan="22" |Source
|-
! rowspan="2" |Epim.
!Hom.
! colspan="2" |Hesiod
| rowspan="2" |''Naup.''
!Soph.
!'''Pindar'''
! colspan="3" |Apollon
! rowspan="2" |Dio.
! rowspan="2" |Cic.
! rowspan="2" |Diop.
!Ovid
! rowspan="2" |Str.
! rowspan="2" |Val.
! rowspan="2" |Apol.
! colspan="2" |Hyginus
! rowspan="2" |'''Ael.'''
! rowspan="2" |Paus.
|''Orph.'' 
|-
|''Odys.''
|''Theo.''
|''Frag.''
|''Scyth.''
|''Sch. Oly.''
| colspan="2" |''Arg.''
|''Sch.''
|''Met.''
|''Fab.''
|''Sch.''
|''Arg.''
|-
| rowspan="5" |''Parentage''
|Helios and Ephyra
|✓
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| colspan="2" |
|✓
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|Helios and Perseis
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|✓
|✓
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| colspan="2" |✓
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|✓
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|✓
|✓
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|-
|Helios and Antiope
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|✓
| colspan="2" |
|✓
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|✓
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|Helios and Asterope
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| colspan="2" |
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|Helios
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| colspan="2" |
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|✓
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| rowspan="4" |''Siblings''
|Circe
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|✓
|✓
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| colspan="2" |✓
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|✓
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|✓
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|✓
|✓
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|✓
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|Pasiphae
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| colspan="2" |✓
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|✓
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|✓
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|Perses
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| colspan="2" |
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|✓
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|✓
|✓
|✓
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|Aloeus
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| colspan="2" |
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| rowspan="7" |''Consort''
|Idyia
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|✓
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|✓
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|Asterodia
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|Neaera
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|Hecate
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|✓
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|Clytia
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|Eurylyte
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|✓
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|''Unnamed''
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|✓
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| rowspan="6" |''Children''
|Medea
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|✓
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|✓
|✓
|✓
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|✓
|✓
|✓
|✓
|✓
|✓
|✓
|✓
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|✓
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|✓
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|Chalciope or
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|✓
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|✓
|✓
|✓
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|Iophossa
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|Absyrtus / Apsyrtus or
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|✓
|✓
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|✓
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|✓
|✓
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|✓
|✓
|✓
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|✓
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|✓
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|Aegialeus
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|✓
|✓
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|Circe
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|✓
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==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* ''[[Argonautica Orphica]]'', 760–1044.
* [[Apollonius Rhodius]]. ''Argonautica'', 3. 240–4. 131.
* [[Scholia]] on ''Argonautica'', 3. 242
* ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' 1. 9. 23.
* [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]. ''Description of Greece'', 2. 3. 10.
* [[Strabo]]. ''Geographica'', 1,45.
* [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]]; ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', London (1873). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DA%3Aentry+group%3D5%3Aentry%3Daeetes-bio-1 "Periphas 5." ]

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}

{{S-start}}
{{s-reg}}
{{s-new|creation}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Colchis#Rulers|King of Colchis]]|years}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Perses (brother of Aeetes)|Perses]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Medea}}
{{Rulers of Corinth}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aeetes}}
[[Category:Mythological kings of Colchis]]
[[Category:Children of Helios]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Characters in the Argonautica]]
[[Category:Mythological Corinthians]]