\cf4 \ATXht10917 Ixion\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 was the son of the sacrilegious\cf0 \b \cf4 \ATXht11622 Phlegyas\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , burner of temples, but proved no less wicked than his father. He began by making his father-in-law fall into a hidden well filled with burning coals, solely in order to avoid having to present him with wedding gifts. Since the murder of a relation
cried out to the gods for vengeance, no one was prepared to purify him of his crime. Only\cf0 \b \cf4 \ATXht8 Zeus\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 \cf7 was ready to offer him hospitality, carrying him up to\cf0 \b \cf4 \ATXht11507 Olympus\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , but Ixion
, far from showing gratitude, attempted to seduce\cf0 \b \cf4 \ATXht3 Hera\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 . To see just how far he would go, the lord of heaven fashioned a cloud in the likeness of Hera. Ixion used violence on the phantom, committing a new and more ser
ious sacrilege, that of ingratitude to a god, and Zeus was forced to punish him.\cf0 \b \cf4 \ATXht12 Hermes\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 \cf7 chained him to a fiery wheel that turned unceasingly in the sky; there was no hope of relief as on Olympus Ixion had taste
d the ambrosia that rendered the gods immortal. The\cf0 \b \cf4 \ATXht10311 Centaurs\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 were born from the union of Ixion with the cloud.
