Ino

Athamas ruled Boeotia. His first wife was Nephele, a phantom made by Zeus in her likeness. She bore him Phrixus, Helle, Leucon, and, in the account that names her three children, a daughter. Athamas grew resentful of Nephele and fell in love with Ino, daughter of Cadmus. He brought Ino secretly to his palace at the foot of Mount Laphystium. She bore him two sons, Learchus and Melicertes. When Nephele learned of the new marriage, she returned to Olympus in anger and complained to Hera. Hera vowed vengeance on Athamas and his house.

One account says that Ino then plotted against Phrixus and Helle. She persuaded the women to parch the wheat grain before it was sown. The earth produced no crop, so Athamas sent messengers to Delphi. Ino persuaded them to report that the famine would end only if Phrixus were sacrificed to Zeus. Athamas was forced to take Phrixus to the altar, but Nephele carried him and Helle away. She gave them a ram with a golden fleece, which Hermes had given her.

Athamas later went mad. He seized his bow and cried that he had seen a white stag. He shot Learchus and tore his still quivering body apart. Ino seized the younger boy, Melicertes, and fled. The infant Dionysus, whom Ino had sheltered in the palace while disguised as a girl, temporarily blinded Athamas. He mistook a she-goat for Ino and began to beat it. Ino reached the Molurian Rock and leapt into the sea with Melicertes. Both were drowned.

Zeus remembered Ino’s kindness to Dionysus. He spared her ghost from Tartarus and made her the goddess Leucothea. He made Melicertes the god Palaemon. Another account says that Ino survived for a time in a Bacchic frenzy, later returned to Athamas’s palace, and became the rival of his new wife, Themisto.

Ino began to scheme against Phrixus and Helle, the children whom Athamas had by Nephele. She persuaded the women to parch the wheat grain in secret from the men. When the parched grain was sown, the earth produced no annual crop. Famine followed, and Athamas sent envoys to Delphi to ask how the land could be freed from its barrenness.

Ino persuaded the envoys to report that the oracle required Phrixus to be sacrificed to Zeus. When Athamas heard this, the inhabitants compelled him to take the boy to the altar. In one account, Athamas led Phrixus to a mountain top and was about to kill him. Heracles intervened, saying that Zeus hated human sacrifice. In the account of the grain famine, however, Nephele rescued Phrixus herself before the sacrifice could take place.

Nephele snatched Phrixus away and took Helle with him. She gave them a ram with a golden fleece, which she had received from Hermes. The ram carried the children away towards Colchis. Another account says that a winged golden ram, supplied by Hermes at Hera’s order, or by Zeus himself, flew down from Olympus to rescue them. A further version has Nephele, in a Bacchic frenzy, leading the ram to the children and ordering them to ride to Colchis, where they were to sacrifice it to Ares. In that version, Phrixus later hung the golden fleece in a temple.

Zeus visited Semele in secret, but Hera deceived her into asking him to appear as he had when he courted Hera. Zeus had sworn to grant whatever she requested, so he came to Semele’s bedchamber in a chariot amid lightning and thunder, then hurled a thunderbolt. Semele died from fright. Zeus rescued her unborn child from the fire, although the child was only six months developed, and sewed him into his thigh. When the time came, he opened the stitches and brought Dionysus to birth.

Zeus handed the infant to Hermes. Hermes took him to Ino and Athamas, and persuaded them to raise him as a girl. Dionysus, Zeus’s child by Ino’s sister Semele, was concealed in their palace. Hera discovered the deception and drove Athamas and Ino mad. Athamas seized his bow and suddenly cried that he had seen a white stag. He shot Learchus, his son, and tore the still-quivering body into pieces.

Ino snatched up her younger son, Melicertes, and fled. Athamas pursued her, but Dionysus temporarily blinded him. Athamas then mistook a she-goat for Ino and began to beat it. Ino reached the Molurian Rock with Melicertes and leaped into the sea, where she was drowned. Zeus remembered her kindness to Dionysus. He therefore spared her ghost from Tartarus and made her the goddess Leucothea. He also made Melicertes a god, under the name Palaemon.