Acastus

Acastus was a figure in Greek mythology known for his roles in both heroic quests and dramatic conflicts. He was the son of Pelias, the king of Iolcus, and his mother was either Anaxibia or Philomache, depending on the tradition. Acastus joined Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece and also took part in the famed Calydonian Boar Hunt, placing him among the ranks of Greece’s greatest legendary heroes.

After Jason and the Argonauts returned to Iolcus, Medea manipulated Acastus’s sisters into murdering their father, Pelias, by convincing them they could rejuvenate him by cutting him into pieces and boiling him. When Acastus discovered what had happened, he buried his father and drove both Jason and Medea from the city. According to the traveler Pausanias, he also exiled his sisters. Acastus honored his father with funeral games and succeeded him as king of Iolcus.

Acastus later played a key role in the story of Peleus, the father of Achilles. After Peleus accidentally killed King Eurytion of Phthia, Acastus offered him purification. However, trouble soon followed. Acastus’s wife—most often named Astydamia, though sometimes Hippolyte, daughter of Cretheus—fell in love with Peleus. When he rejected her advances, she plotted revenge. She deceitfully told Antigone, Peleus’s wife, that he planned to marry Acastus’s daughter, Sterope, and then falsely accused him to Acastus of attempting to rape her.

In retaliation, Acastus invited Peleus on a hunting trip on Mount Pelion, where he secretly stole Peleus’s sword while he slept and left him exposed to be killed by wild centaurs. But either the centaur Chiron or the god Hermes intervened, returning Peleus’s sword and saving his life.

Peleus eventually returned with allies, including Jason and the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux), and sacked Iolcus. He dismembered Astydamia, and in some versions, killed Acastus as well. In a grim display, he marched his army between the pieces of Astydamia’s body. After these events, the kingdom passed to Thessalus, the son of Jason.

Acastus’s story reflects themes of betrayal, revenge, and the shifting fortunes of kingship, showing how quickly alliances and power could be overturned in mythic Greece.