Actaeus

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A relief on the interior Telephos-Frieze of the Pergamon Altar depicting Ajax killing Actaeus and Heloros.
A relief on the interior Telephos-Frieze of the Pergamon Altar depicting Ajax killing Actaeus and Heloros.

Actaeus (Greek Ακταιος) was the first king of Athens, according to Pausanias.[1] He was the son of Erysichthon, father of Agraulus, and father-in-law to Cecrops, the second king of Athens. The tradition also states that he gave Attica its name before it was changed to Cecropia by Cecrops. Actaeus had three daughters - Agraulos, Herse, and Pandrosus - but no sons and was therefore succeeded by Cecrops, the husband of Agraulos.[2]

Accord­ing to Apollodorus, on the other hand, Cecrops was the first king of Attica, and the three daughters were his own.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Pausanias, i. 2. § 5
  2. ^ Schmitz, Leonhard (1867), “Actaeus”, in Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 1, Boston, MA, pp. 16 
  3. ^ Apollodorus, iii. 14. 1

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1870).

Preceded by
None
King of Athens Succeeded by
Cecrops I

[edit] External links