Admetus

In Greek mythology, Admetus (/ædˈmiːtəs/; Greek: Ἄδμητος Admetos, "untamed", "untameable") was a king of Pherae in Thessaly, succeeding his father Pheres after whom the city was named. Admetus was one of the Argonauts and took part in the Calydonian Boar hunt. His wife Alcestis offered to substitute her own death for his.

Mythology

Admetus was famed for his hospitality and justice. When Apollo was sentenced to a year of servitude to a mortal as punishment for killing Delphyne, or as later tradition has it, the Cyclops, the god chose Admetus' home and became his herdsman. Apollo in recompense for Admetus' treatment—the Hellenistic poet Callimachus of Alexandria makes him Apollo's eromenos—made all the cows bear twins while he served as his cowherd.

Apollo also helped Admetus win the hand of Alcestis, the daughter of Pelias, king of Iolcus. Alcestis had so many suitors that Pelias set an apparently impossible task to the suitors—to win the hand of Alcestis, they must yoke a boar and a lion to a chariot. Apollo harnessed the yoke with the animals and Admetus drove the chariot to Pelias, and thus married Alcestis.

Admetus (disambiguation)

Admetus or Admetos (Greek: Ἄδμητος) may refer to:

Admetus (epigrammatist)

Admetus (Gr. Αδμητος) was a Greek epigrammatist who lived in the early part of the 2nd century. One of his lines is preserved by Lucian.

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Charles Peter Mason (1870). "Admetus". In Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology 1. p. 19.