In
Greek mythology,
Ixion was one of the
Lapiths, and a son of
Phlegyas.
Pirithous was his son. He married a daughter of
Deioneus and, in order to avoid paying the bride-price, pushed him into a bed of coals. For this, he was punished in
Tartarus after his death by spending eternity on a flaming wheel.
He was sometimes thought of as an ancestor of the centaurs. Hence, they were called Ixionidae.