Peleus

After Thetis, daughter of Nereus, left Peleus, their young son Achilles remained with his father. Peleus entrusted the boy to Chiron, the Centaur who lived in a cave beneath the cliffs of Mount Pelion. Chiron had once taught Peleus. Peleus now placed Achilles with him, so that the child could be raised and trained away from home.

Chiron brought Achilles up on Mount Pelion. He taught him hunting and the arts of war, preparing him for the life expected of Peleus’s son. Achilles learned in the mountain forests and joined in the sports and pursuits connected with Chiron’s instruction. The cave became the place of his early education, before he returned to Phthia.

Years later, Peleus and his companions sailed past the Isle of Sciathos and Cape Sepius. They turned north towards Pelion. As they approached the mountain, they remembered hunting and schooling in the cave beneath the cliff. Peleus told them that his son was there, the child born to him by Thetis. Chiron was training Achilles as he had once trained Peleus. The boy remained in Chiron’s care when Peleus and his companions reached the mountain, before they continued their dangerous journey.

Peleus held Thetis as she changed form. She became a beast and fire. She endured burning, drowning, mauling, stinging, and a covering of sticky sepia ink. Peleus would not release her. At last, Thetis yielded, and they lay together in an embrace. Their wedding took place outside Cheiron’s cave on Mount Pelion.

The Olympian gods attended and sat on twelve thrones. Hera raised the bridal torch. Zeus, reconciled to his defeat, gave Thetis to Peleus. The Fates and the Muses sang. Ganymedes poured nectar. The fifty Nereids danced in a spiral on the white sands. Centaurs gathered for the ceremony. They wore grass chaplets, carried fir darts, and proclaimed good fortune for the marriage.

Cheiron gave Peleus a spear. Athene had polished its shaft, which came from an ash tree on the summit of Mount Pelion. Hephaestus had forged its blade. The gods together gave Peleus a suit of golden armour. Poseidon added two immortal horses, Balius and Xanthus. They were born to the West Wind and the Harpy Podarge.

Eris, goddess of discord, had been left out of the celebrations, or arrived without an invitation. She threw a golden apple into the gathering. It was marked as a gift for the fairest, or Eris declared that the fairest should take it. The apple began a quarrel among the goddesses. The quarrel led to the judgement of Paris and set in motion the events that brought about the Trojan War.

After Peleus died, Thetis took him away from mortal life. She brought him to the Isles of the Blessed, where he passed beyond ordinary human existence. He no longer remained among the dead who had lived and died as mortals. Thetis acted for Peleus after his death, and her action carried him from the mortal condition to the islands. His removal from human life came before his arrival there, and the Isles of the Blessed became his destination.

In another telling, Peleus reached extreme old age before Thetis acted. At the end of his human existence, she took him away from mortal life. She then made him immortal among the gods. The change removed the effects of age from him and placed him among the immortals. In this telling, Thetis did not bring Peleus to the Isles of the Blessed. She instead changed his condition and granted him a place among the gods.

The two tellings differed in the time of Thetis’s intervention and in Peleus’s destination. In one, Peleus died first, and Thetis took him to the Isles of the Blessed. In the other, he reached extreme old age, and she made him immortal among the gods. Both tellings gave Thetis the action that carried Peleus beyond mortal life. In both, Peleus left behind the human condition, either when she brought him to the islands after his death or when she removed the effects of age and made him immortal.