In Greek mythology, Phoenix (Ancient Greek: Φοῖνιξ Phoinix, gen. Φοίνικος Phoinikos) was the son of king Amyntor. Because of a dispute with his father, Phoenix fled to Phthia, where he became king of the Dolopians, and tutor of the young Achilles, whom he accompanied to the Trojan War. After Achilles had in anger withdrawn from the war, Phoenix tried to persuade Achilles to return.
Phoenix appears as a character in the Iliad, where Homer has him tell his story. He is also mentioned several times in the Epic Cycle. There were several lost 5th-century BC tragedies titled Phoenix, which presumably told his story, and he appeared as a character in several others. Mentions of Phoenix occur in Pindar, the Palatine Anthology, Lycophron, Ovid and Hyginus, and a brief account of his story is given by the mythographer Apollodorus. Phoenix also appears in many works of ancient art from as early as the 6th century BC.
Mythology
Phoenix was the son of Amyntor. A dispute with his father, concerning his father's concubine, resulted in Phoenix fleeing his homeland for Phthia, where he became a vassal of Achilles' father Peleus, the king. As told in the Iliad, on the urgings of his jealous mother (variously named as Cleobule, Hippodameia, or Alcimede), Phoenix had had sex with his father's concubine. Amyntor, discovering this, called upon the Erinyes to curse Phoenix with childlessness. In later accounts of the story, Phoenix was falsely accused by Amyntor's concubine, and blinded by his father, but Chiron restored his sight. In either case, Phoenix fled to Phthia, where Peleus made Phoenix a king of the Dolopians, and gave him his young son Achilles to raise.
Phoenix participated in the Calydonian boar hunt, and was said to have given Achilles' son the name Neoptolemus. As an old man, he went with Odysseus and Nestor to find and recruit Achilles for the Trojan War, and was Achilles' companion at Troy. After Achilles, in his anger at Agamemnon, had withdrawn from the fighting, Phoenix was part of the unsuccessful embassy sent by Agamemnon to persuade Achilles to return to the battle. After Achilles died, Phoenix was one of those sent to fetch Neoptolemus from Scyros. On his way home from Troy, Phoenix died and was buried by Neoptolemus. His tomb was said to be either in Eion, Macedonia, or in Trachis, Thessaly, nearby the "Phoenix River" which was said to have been named after the hero.
Sources
The Iliad
Phoenix plays an important role in Book 9 of the Iliad of Homer. Achilles, the Greeks' greatest warrior, has withdrawn from the war because of his great anger at his ill treatment by the Greek commander Agamemnon. Phoenix, who had been in charge of Achilles upbringing, now an old man, has accompanied Achilles to the Trojan War. Phoenix is sent by Agamemnon to Achilles' tent, as part of an embassy with Ajax and Odysseus, to persuade Achilles to return to the battle. Odysseus speaks first, presenting Agamemnon's offer of reconciliation, an appeal which Achilles rejects utterly, saying that he will leave with his ships the next morning. Next Phoenix—who as his tutor, as he reminds Achilles, has taught him "to be both a speaker of words and a doer of deeds"—begins himself a long speech covering 172 lines. Phoenix, "bursting into tears", pleads passionately with Achilles to put down his anger and return to the war. Phoenix's speech presents an "exposition of heroic, traditional ethics".
Phoenix begins his appeal, in personal terms, by reminding Achilles how he came to be a second father to Achilles. Phoenix's father was Amyntor, the son of Ormenus, and a king in Hellas. When Amyntor forsook his wife, Phoenix's mother, for a concubine, at the urging of his jealous mother, Phoenix had sex with Amyntor's concubine. To punish this crime Amyntor called upon the Erinyes to curse Phoenix with childlessness. Outraged Phoenix intended to kill Amyntor, but was finally dissuaded. Instead he decided to leave his father's kingdom. For nine days some of his friends and family kept watch over him to prevent his leaving, but finally on the tenth day he managed to escape, and fleeing through Hellas, Phoenix came to Phthia, where king Peleus, the father of Achilles, took in Phoenix, and treated him like a son. Peleus made Phoenix a king of the Dolopians. And Phoenix was given charge of the young Achilles, whom Phoenix reared as a son. Having reminded Achilles of all this, Phoenix asks Achilles to "master thy proud spirit; it beseemeth thee not to have a pitiless heart. Nay, even the very gods can bend".