In Greek mythology, Phrixus (Greek: Φρίξος, Phrixos) or
Phryxus was the son of Athamas, king of Boiotia, and Nephele
(a goddess of clouds). His twin sister Helle and he were
hated by their stepmother, Ino. Ino hatched a devious plot
to get rid of the twins, roasting all of Boeotia's crop
seeds so they would not grow. The local farmers, frightened
of famine, asked a nearby oracle for assistance. Ino bribed
the men sent to the oracle to lie and tell the others that
the oracle required the sacrifice of Phrixus and Helle.
Before they were killed, though, Phrixus and Helle were
rescued by a flying, or swimming,[1] ram with golden wool
sent by Nephele, their natural mother; their starting point
is variously recorded as Halos in Thessaly and Orchomenus in
Boeotia. During their flight Helle swooned, fell off the ram
and drowned in the Dardanelles, renamed the Hellespont (sea
of Helle), but Phrixus survived all the way to Colchis,
where King Aeetes, the son of the sun god Helios, took him
in and treated him kindly, giving Phrixus his daughter,
Chalciope, in marriage. In gratitude, Phrixus sacrificed the
ram to Zeus and gave the king the golden fleece of the ram,
which Aeetes hung in a tree in the holy grove of Ares in his
kingdom, guarded by a dragon that never slept.
Phrixus and Chalciope had four sons, who later joined forces
with the Argonauts. The oldest was Argos. - Wikipedia
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（*Fri/cos), a son of Athamas and Nephele or of Athamas and
Themisto (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. 2.1144), and brother of
Helle, and a grandson of Aeolus (Apollon. 2.1141). In
consequence of the intrigues of his stepmother, Ino (others
state that he offered himself), he was to be sacrificed to
Zeus; but Nephele removed him and Helle, and the two then
rode away on the ram with the golden fleece, the gift of
Hermes, through the air. According to Hyginus (Hyg. Fab. 3),
Phrixus and Helle were thrown by Dionysus into a state of
madness, and while wandering about in a forest, they were
removed by Nephele. Between Sigeum and the Chersonesus,
Helle fell into the sea which was afterwards called after
her the Hellespont; but Phrixus arrived in Colchis, in the
kingdom of Aeetes, who gave him his daughter Chalciope in
marriage (comp. Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. 2.1123, 1149).
Phrixus sacriticed the rain which had carried him, to Zeus
Phyxius or Laphystius (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. 2.653; Paus.
1.24.2), and gave its skin to Aeetes, who fastened it to an
oak tree in the grove of Ares.
By Chalciope Phrixus became the father of Argus, Melas,
Phrontis, Cytisorus, and Presbon (Apollod. 1.9.1; Hyg. Fab.
14; Paus. 9.34.5; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. 2.1123 ; Tzetz.
ad Lyc. 22; Diod. 4.47). Phrixus died in old age in the
kingdom of Aeetes, or, according to others, he was killed by
Aeetes in consequence of an oracle (Apollon. 2.1151 ; Hyg.
Fab. 3), or he returned to Orchomenus, in the country of the
Minyans. (Paus. 9.34.5 ; comp. ATHAMAS ; JASON.) - A
Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology,
William Smith, Ed.
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