The Punishment of Ixion
Ixion abuses the mercy shown to him by Zeus and is condemned to an endlessly turning fiery wheel.
The Story
Ixion was a king remembered for a series of serious violations of both human and divine order.
In one tradition he murdered a relative connected with his marriage arrangements.
The crime was particularly shocking because it involved blood guilt within a social relationship that should have been protected.
No mortal was willing or able to purify him.
Zeus eventually took pity on Ixion and brought him among the gods.
Instead of responding with gratitude, Ixion became attracted to Hera.
Zeus tested him.
He created a cloud in the form of Hera, commonly called Nephele.
Ixion believed the cloud-woman to be Hera and slept with her.
From this strange union came traditions concerning the ancestry of the Centaurs.
Ixion's behaviour proved that even direct divine mercy had not changed him.
Zeus punished him.
Ixion was bound to a wheel, often described as burning or fiery, which turned endlessly.
The king who had violated relationships of kinship, hospitality and divine favour was trapped in perpetual movement without destination.
His punishment became one of the great spectacles of the mythological Underworld.
Key Figures
Why It Matters
Ixion's story focuses on ingratitude and the violation of sacred relationships. Zeus offers him purification and hospitality, but Ixion responds by attempting another betrayal.
Traditions & Variations
Sources differ over the precise nature of Ixion's first murder, the location of his punishment and whether his wheel turns in the sky or Underworld. His association with Nephele and the Centaurs also varies genealogically.