Nephele
"Cloud." When Ixion, king of the Lapiths, fell in love with Hera and tried to assail her, Hera told Zeus about it. To determine if her report was true, he fashioned a woman, Nephele, from a cloud to look like Hera and laid her at Ixion's side. Ixion indeed lay with her, assuming it was Hera, and when he bragged about it, Zeus punished him. The centaurs are their offspring.
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References
Sources
- Hyginus. Fabulae, 62.
- Pseudo-Apollodorus. The Library: Epitome, 1.20.
- Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.