Pelias was power-hungry and he wished to gain dominion over all of
Thessaly. To this end, he banished Neleus and Pheres and locked Aeson in the dungeons in
Iolcus. Aeson sent Jason to
Chiron to be educated while Pelias, afraid that he would be overthrown, was warned by an
oracle to beware of a man wearing one sandal. Many years later, Pelias was holding the
Olympics in honor of Poseidon when Jason, rushing to Iolcus, lost one of his sandals in a river while helping
Hera, in the form of an old woman, cross. When Jason entered Iolcus, he was announced as a man wearing one sandal. Suspicious, Pelias asked him what he (Jason) would do if confronted with the man who would be his downfall. Jason responded that he would send that man after the
Golden Fleece. Pelias took that advice and sent Jason to retrieve the Golden Fleece. During Jason's absence, Pelias intended to kill Aeson. However, Aeson committed suicide by drinking a poison called
bull's blood (believed to be an arsenic compound). His wife killed herself as well, and Pelias murdered their infant son
Promachus. Alternatively, Aeson survived until Jason and his new wife,
Medea, came back to Iolcus. She slit Aeson's throat, then put his corpse in a pot and Aeson came to life as a young man. She then told Pelias' daughters she would do the same for their father if they killed him. They slit his throat and Medea refused to raise him, so Pelias stayed dead. == Gallery ==