Phlegyas was the father of Ixion, in some accounts, as well asCoronis, one ofApollo's lovers. The girl's mother was calledCleopheme, daughter ofMalus and theMuseErato.[6] According to one tradition, he had no children.[7] Another daughter,Gyrtone, was also said to have given her name to Gyrton.
Phlegyas succeededEteocles, who died without issue, in the government of the district ofOrchomenos, which he named Phlegyantis, after himself.
While pregnant withAsclepius, Coronis fell in love withIschys, son ofElatus. When ahooded crow informed Apollo of the affair, he sent his sisterArtemis to kill Coronis, unable to perform the task himself. However,Hermes rescued the baby from Coronis' womb and gave it to thecentaurChiron to raise. Phlegyas, angry at Apollo for killing his daughter, torched the Apollonian temple atDelphi, causing Apollo to kill him with his arrows and condemn him to severe punishment in the lower world.[8][9][10][11][12] In another version of the myth, Phlegyas had no children and the two brothers Lycus and Nycteus are responsible for his death.
In theAeneid ofVirgil, Phlegyas is shown tormented inTartarus in theUnderworld, warning others not to despise the gods. In theThebaid ofStatius, Phlegyas is also shown to be in the Underworld entombed in a rock byMegaera (one of theFuries) and starved in front of an eternal feast (comparable to the torment ofTantalus).
In theDivine Comedy poemInferno, Phlegyas ferries Virgil andDante across the RiverStyx which is portrayed as a marsh where the wrathful and sullen lie withinHell's Circle of Wrath.
Phlegyas appears in the video gameDante's Inferno. This version is a giant fiery rock monster: whether he has always been is unknown. Dante unknowingly rides across the Styx on the wrathful demigod's crown. After fighting his way towards Dis and seeing Beatrice become Lucifer's bride, Dante takes control of Phlegyas and uses him to break into the City of Dis. When Dante reaches the circle of Heresy, Phlegyas breaks the ground he's standing on. Dante manages to jump off in time, but Phlegyas breaks through the floor and plummets into the abyss.
In the animated film based on the video game calledDante's Inferno: An Animated Epic, the appearance of Phlegyas (whose vocal effects are provided byKevin Michael Richardson) is more toned down as he appears in the film as a green-skinned humanoid who willingly took Dante and Virgil through the fifth circle of Hell without incident. He was knocked out by Lucifer when Dante controlled Phlegyas to charge Lucifer.
John Tzetzes,Book of Histories, Book IX-X translated by Jonathan Alexander from the original Greek of T. Kiessling's edition of 1826.Online version at theio.com
Pausanias,Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
Pindar,The Odes of Pindar including the Principal Fragments with an Introduction and an English Translation by Sir John Sandys, Litt.D., FBA. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1937.Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Media related toPhlegyas at Wikimedia Commons