Other Images

Ixion

Ixion was the first man to shed kindred blood, by tricking his father-in-law to walk over (and fall into!) a camouflaged pit of burning coals. Zeus purified him after this crime, but Ixion repayed this favor by trying to rape Hera. In punishment for this second crime, Zeus had Ixion bound to a constantly revolving wheel. Different traditions place this wheel either in Hades or in the sky (see below).

This engraving from 1790 A.D. shows Ixion among the sufferers in Hades. To the left of Ixion you may recognize Atlas holding the world on his shoulders. The figure on the right is probably Tantalus trying to drink from a waterfall.

The red-figure vase below shows Ixion bound to a fiery wheel. According to Ovid (Metamorphoses Book 10), Ixion was punished in the underworld. The Greek poet, Pindar, however, gives a different account (P.2.21-24):

“They say that Ixion, through the gods’ commands revolving upon the winged wheel, cries out to men that they should always hasten to pay back their benefactor with kind deeds”