**Ixion** is a notorious figure in Greek mythology, known as the king of the Lapiths and infamous for his crimes and eternal punishment.

# Myth and Crimes
- Ixion was either the son of **Ares** or **Phlegyas** and married **Dia**, daughter of his father-in-law **Deioneus** (or Eioneus). He promised a bride price but failed to pay it. In retaliation, Deioneus stole some of Ixion’s horses.
- In a brutal act of revenge, Ixion invited Deioneus to a feast and pushed him into a pit of burning coals, killing him. This was the first known case of kin-slaying in Greek myth and a grave violation of *xenia* (guest-host relationship)

### Divine Pardon and Betrayal
- Despite his crime, **Zeus** took pity on Ixion, purified him, and even invited him to Olympus as a guest.
- Instead of gratitude, Ixion grew lustful for **Hera**, Zeus’s wife. To test or trick him, Zeus created a cloud in Hera’s shape called **Nephele**. Ixion coupled with the cloud, and from this union was born **Centauros**, the ancestor of the Centaurs, a wild race of half-human, half-horse beings
### Punishment
- For his audacity and betrayal, Zeus punished Ixion by binding him to a **winged fiery wheel** that spins eternally. Initially, this wheel spun across the heavens, but later myths place it in **Tartarus**, the deepest part of the Underworld.
- Hermes was ordered to bind Ixion to this wheel, which became a symbol of eternal torment and divine retribution for arrogance and disrespect toward the gods.

### Symbolism
- Ixion’s punishment serves as a vivid warning against hubris, betrayal, and violation of sacred laws.
- The spinning fiery wheel symbolizes endless suffering and the consequences of defying divine authority.

In summary, Ixion is remembered as a king who committed the first kin-slaying, abused Zeus’s hospitality by lusting after Hera, fathered the Centaurs through a cloud deception, and was condemned to eternal torment on a fiery spinning wheel as punishment for his transgressions.