Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

Tyro, daughter of Salmoneus and wife (or intended) of Cretheus, loved the river-god Enipeus and haunted his stream. Poseidon desired her. He took the likeness of Enipeus, rose from the river in that form, and lay with her. Afterward he revealed himself as the god, bidding her keep silence and promising splendid children; he covered the lovers with a wave so that none should see. Tyro bore twin sons, Pelias and Neleus. In the fuller handbook tale she exposed them; a mare (or horse-herd) nursed or found them—Pelias was kicked in the face and bore a livid mark (*pelios*), whence his name. Grown, the twins were recognized and avenged Tyro against Sidero, the cruel stepmother who had mistreated her: Pelias slew Sidero at Hera’s altar (an impiety that marks his character). The brothers then parted: Pelias ruled in Iolcus (driving out Aeson’s line in the Argonaut prelude); Neleus founded or took Pylos in Messenia and fathered Nestor and the Neleids. Homer’s Odyssey Nekyia has Odysseus see Tyro among the heroines: she loved Enipeus; Poseidon in Enipeus’s shape begot Pelias and Neleus, who both became mighty servants of Zeus—Pelias dwelling in broad Iolcus, Neleus in sandy Pylos. The episode is the classic theogamic deception by likeness: a god borrowing a river’s form to father the twin kings who will shape Thessalian and Messenian heroic genealogy.