Nephele

Nephele, in Greek mythology, is a cloud-nymph who embodies the personification of a cloud. The name itself derives from the Greek word for cloud, nephes or nephele, and she appears in several mythological strands with varying parentage and roles.

In one tradition, Nephele is the wife of Athamas, king of Boeotia, and the mother of Phrixus and Helle. When a famine threatens the kingdom, the stepmother Ino plots against the children, but a magical golden ram appears to rescue them. Helle falls into the sea during the flight, giving her name to the Hellespont, while Phrixus reaches the land of Colchis. There he sacrifices the ram to Zeus and presents its golden fleece to King Aeetes, an event that sets in motion the later myth of the Golden Fleece and the quest of Jason and the Argonauts.

In another strand, Nephele is the cloud created by Zeus to test Ixion’s fidelity. Ixion mated with this cloud, and in that union the centaurs are sometimes said to be born, linking Nephele to a broader genealogical tale about the origins of a significant group of beings in Greek myth.

Nephele serves primarily as a symbolic figure representing the cloud and as a nexus for stories involving flight, divine intervention, and the origins of notable mythic items or peoples. Her appearances are varied across ancient sources, but she is consistently treated as a divine figure associated with the sky and weather phenomena.