PELEUS, in fabulous history, a king of Thessaly, son of Aeacus, and Endeis, the daughter of Chiron. He married Thetis, one of the Nereids, and was the only mortal man who had ever married an immortal. He was concerned in the murder of his brother Phocus, and was therefore obliged to leave his father’s dominions. He fled to the court of Eurytus the son of Actor, who reigned at Phthia, or, according to the opinion of Ovid, the truth of which is questioned, to Ceyx king of Trachinia. He was purified of this murder by Eurytus, with the usual ceremonies, and the king gave him his daughter Antigone in marriage. After this, when Peleus and Eurytus went to the hunting of the Caledonian boar, the father-in-law was accidentally killed by an arrow which his son-in-law had aimed at the beast. This unfortunate action obliged him to withdraw himself from the court of Phthia, and he went to Iolchos, where he was also purified of the murder of Eurytus by Acastus, the king of the country. His residence at Iolchos was short. Astydamia, the wife of Acastus, fell in love with him; but when she found him insensible to her passionate declarations, she accused him of attempts upon her virtue. The king her husband partly believed the accusations of his wife, but, not willing to violate the laws of hospitality, by putting his guest instantly tojleath, he ordered his officers to conduct him to Mount Pelion, on pretence of hunting, and there to tie him to a tree and leave him a prey to the wild beasts of the place. The orders of Acastus were faithfully obeyed; but Jupiter, knowing the innocence of his grandson Peleus, ordered Vulcan to set him at liberty. As soon as he had been delivered from danger, Peleus assembled his friends in order to punish the ill treatment which he had received from Acastus. He took Iolchos by force, drove the king from his possessions, and put to death the profligate Astydamia. On the death of Antigone, Peleus made love to Thetis, of whose superior charms Jupiter himself had been enamoured. His pretensions were rejected; for as he was but a mortal, the goddess fled from him with the utmost abhorrence, and, the more effectually to evade his inquiries, she generally assumed the shape of a bird, or a tree, or of a tigress. Peleus’s passion was inflamed by refusal. He offered a sacrifice to the gods; and Proteus informed him, that to obtain Thetis he must surprise her whilst she was asleep in her grotto, near the shores of Thessaly. This advice was immediately attended to; and Thetis, unable to escape from the grasp of Peleus, at last consented to marry him. Their nuptials were celebrated with the greatest solemnity, all the gods attending and making them each the most valuable presents. The goddess of Discord was the only one of the deities who was absent, and she punished this seeming neglect by throwing an apple into the midst of the assembly of the gods, with the inscription of Detur pulchriori. The fruit of this marriage was the celebrated Achilles, whose education was early intrusted to Chiron the Centaur, and afterwards to Phoenix, the son of Amyntor. Achilles, it is. well known, went to the Trojan war, at the head of his father’s troops; and Peleus gloried in having a son who was superior to all the Greeks in valour and intrepidity. His death, however, was the source of great grief to Peleus; but Thetis, to comfort her husband, promised him immortality, and ordered him to retire into the grottos of the island of Leuce, where he should see and converse with the manes of his son. Peleus had by Antigone a daughter called Polydora.