An early legendary king of the Lapiths of Thessalonia, Ixion is the victim of mythological accretions and assimilations. He is the son of ARES or LEONTEUS; or ANTION and PERIMELE; or even the evil PHLEGYAS, the 'fiery one'. He murders his father-in-law and becomes the first kin-slayer in Greek legend. He goes mad in guilt for this crime, and becomes an outlaw. ZEUS takes pity on him and invites him to the table of the gods in Olympus, where he blots his copybook again, lusting after Zeus's wife HERA. Zeus makes a cloud (NEPHELE) in the shape of Hera and Ixion couples with it. The product of this union is CENTAUROS (and the warrior-hero LAPITHES), who in turn couples with the Magnesian mares of Mount Pelion, who give birth to the race of Centaurs. For his lust, Ixion is expelled from Olympus and bound to a fiery wheel for all eternity
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