Actaeus

Actaeus
King of Actica or Acte
General Information
Species	Mortal Autochthon
Sex	Male
Aliases	Actaeon
Relationships
Parents	Gaia (autochthonous)
Children	Aglaurus and Phoenice
Grandchildren	Aglaurus, Herse, and Pandrosus

In Greek mythology, Actaeus (Ancient Greek: Ἀκταῖος, lit. 'coast-man'), was an autochthon and the first king of Attica, according to Pausanias. He was also mentioned in the Parian Chronicle as Actaeon and is possibly referred to by a passing reference by Apollodorus.

Family

King Actaeus was the father of Aglaurus, the namesake of the daughter of King Cecrops who according to the Parian Chronicle changed the name of the kingdom of Acte, named after Actaeus, to the kingdom of Cecropia, later to be known as Attica. Scamon of Mytilene refers in his work 'Discoveries' that King Actaeus like King Cecrops according to the historically authoritative Parian Chronicle 1318 years later, had three daughters named Aglaurus, Erse and Pandrosos, who all got offspring, but also a fourth daughter, Phoenice, who died a virgin. The wife of King Actaeus, or who is the mothers of his daughters appears strangely obscure.

Legend

According to the Byzantine Suda Lexicon, the ancient Greek historian Scamon of Mytilene claimed that Actaeus named the Phoenician letters in honor of his daughter Phoenice, who had died a virgin.

Actaeus was said to have ruled over the kingdom of Attica, named Acte (Ἀκτή Akte) or Actica, before it became known as Cecropia more than a thousand years later.

The ancient Parian Chronicle inscribed in pure marble from Paros states that Actaeus gave Aktike its name before it was changed to Cecropia by King Cecrops, and thus later become known as Attica. Another story tells that Atthis, a daughter of Cranaos, the king succeeding Cecrops in Athens, was Attica's namesake. According to the Bibliotheca, on the other hand, Cecrops was the first king of Athens, and the three daughters were his own.

Reference

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Actaeus (view authors). As with Myth and Folklore Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported).

Preceded by: None (Title Created)

King of Athens (King of Actica) Mythic

Succeeded by Cecrops I