Pelia had an unspecified kinship with
Cinyras, the king of
Cyprus, and his son Adonis. Cinyras gave Pelia's hand in marriage to
Melos, a childhood friend of Adonis who had come from the island
Delos to Cyprus for unknown reasons. The couple had a son together, whom they also named
Melos after his father. The child was raised inside the sanctuary of Aphrodite herself, lover of Adonis. But when Adonis was slain by a boar during hunting, Melos was so distraught over his loss that he ended his life by hanging himself from an apple tree, which took his name thereafter. Pelia, not standing the loss of her kin and her husband both, followed his steps and took her life in the same way as well. After Aphrodite's own period of mourning was over, she honoured the couple and their grief over Adonis by transforming them; she turned Melos into an apple/apple tree, and Pelia into a
dove. As for their son, Melos, who was now the only surviving member of Cinyras' family, he was sent back to Delos, where he founded the city Melon. The sheep there also took his name, for he first taught the Delians to shear them and make clothing out of their wool; the Greek means 'apple' and 'sheep' both. == Significance ==