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Peleus

Literary Character
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Peleus is a mortal Greek hero, husband of the sea-nymph Thetis and father of Achilles, central to myths of divine marriage and heroic destiny.

Detailed Definition
Peleus’s marriage to the sea-nymph Thetis, attended by gods, sets the stage for Achilles’ birth and the Trojan War. In poetry, he symbolizes the union of mortal and divine, the fragility of heroic lineage, and the tragic prelude to epic conflict, often invoked in nuptial or genealogical contexts.
Example
Example in poetry:
Peleus in Catullus’ "Peleus and Thetis" is a mortal wedding guest to divine union, rendered through epic epithalamium; In Apollonius’ "Argonautica," he is Jason’s loyal companion; Later poets reference Peleus as symbol of mortal-divine intersection; His name evokes paternal grief (for Achilles) in elegiac poetry.
Additional Notes
Peleus, Achilles’ mortal father, appears in myth as a hero favored by the gods; his literary character often serves as a bridge between divine and human realms, illustrating how genealogy structures heroic identity in epic and lyric poetry.
Also Known As
Peleus of Phthia
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