Phrontis (son of Phrixus)

In Greek mythology, Phrontis (/fron-tis/; Ancient Greek: Φροντις) or Phrontides[1] was one of four (or five) sons of Phrixus and Chalciope (Iophassa[2]), daughter of King Aeetes of Colchis.[3] His brothers were Cytissorus, Argus and Melas,[4] and according to some accounts, also of Presbon.[5]

Mythology

Phrontis and his brothers were raised in Colchis, but after their father died, he and his brothers set out to avenge their father’s ill treatment at the hands of king Athamas of Orchomenus; they were stranded on the Island of Ares (Dia) in the Black Sea until they were rescued from the island by Jason and the Argonauts. Once Jason discovered that Phrontis and his brothers were grandsons of King Aeëtes of Colchis, Jason convinced Phrontis and his brothers to return with him to Colchis and help him to obtain the Golden Fleece. Jason also questioned Phrontis and his brothers on the layout and security of the land. After the Fleece was retrieved from Colchis, Phrontis and his brothers returned with the Argo's crew to Greece.[6]

Another story of Phrontis transpired many years after the Argonautical travels and involves Phrontis' brother Melas as a traveling merchant who was apprehended and kept in captivity by the oppressive king Talycrates (Ταλυκρατης) of the city of Ionetrea (Ιονητρεια) in the Caucasus along the Cyrus River. Many other traveling merchants who journeyed through the Caucasus were held in captivity as well. Talycrates hoped that, by holding captive as many merchants from Greece and Anatolia as possible, he could economically weaken the wealthy city-states in those regions, giving him a great advantage of conquest. Once Phrontis received word of his brother's captivity, he felt compelled to travel the long journey to rescue his brother. Phrontis prayed to Zeus for help and Zeus gave Phrontis' horse Tempestris the wings of an eagle (Zeus' sacred animal), enabling the horse to fly over the high Caucasus Mountains and carry Phrontis safely to Ionetrea. After arriving at Ionetrea, Phrontis freed his brother Melas, and many other Greek and Anatolian traveling merchants, from prison bonds. Afterward he helped the inhabitants of Ionetrea to revolt and to overthrow and kill Talycrates, thus liberating the Ionetreans from his tyrannical oppression. An Ionetrean maiden named Lystra joined Phrontis and Melas on the journey back to Greece, and Phrontis married Lystra in Greece.
Notes

Hyginus, Fabulae 21
Scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 2.1122 citing Hesiod's Ehoiai
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.9.1
Hyginus, Fabulae 14.5
Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 9.34.8

Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 5.460

References

Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Gaius Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica translated by Mozley, J H. Loeb Classical Library Volume 286. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1928. Online version at theio.com.
Gaius Valerius Flaccus, Argonauticon. Otto Kramer. Leipzig. Teubner. 1913. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Hesiod, Catalogue of Women from Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica translated by Evelyn-White, H G. Loeb Classical Library Volume 57. London: William Heinemann, 1914. Online version at theio.com
Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4.
Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Pseudo-Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. . Greek text .
Argonauts