1000 Classical Characters Briefly Described

Who was Iphigenia? What did Cincinnatus do? A thousand gods, heroes and tyrants of the classical world, each explained in the time it takes to read a text message.

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Phaethon

A son of the Sun, or of Phoebus and Clymene. According to Hesiod and Pausanias he was son of Cephalus and Aurora, or of Tithonus and Aurora according to Apollodorus. He is, however, generally acknowledged to be son of Phoebus and Clymene. Phoebus allowed him to drive the chariot of the sun for one day. Phaethon, on receiving the reins, at once showed his incapacity; the horses became unmanageable, and heaven and earth were threatened with a conflagration, when Jupiter struck Phaethon with a thunderbolt, and hurled him into the river Po, where he perished.

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