Actaeus⚖
Pausanias' first king of the land then called Actaea. Apollodorus and Hyginus instead begin the royal roll with the earth-born Cecrops, who names the country Cecropia after himself.1
Cecrops⚖
The autochthonous man-serpent who first established laws and marriage rites — or (Pausanias) son-in-law of Actaeus who received the kingdom when Actaeus died. In his reign Athena and Poseidon contested Attica.2
Cranaus
Another son of the soil; in his reign the flood in the age of Deucalion fell. He married Pedias of Lacedaemon and named the country Atthis for his daughter; Amphictyon expelled him from the throne.3
Amphictyon⚖
Son of Deucalion in the Deucalionid roll, or an autochthon in Apollodorus' Attic list ('some say… a son of the soil'). He reigned twelve years, then was expelled by Erichthonius.4
Erichthonius
Earth-born of Hephaestus, reared by Athena in her chest; he founded the Panathenaea and set up the wooden image of the goddess. His reign is the Attic golden age before the Eleusinian war.5
Pandion
In his reign Demeter and Dionysus came to Attica; father of Erechtheus, Butes, Procne and Philomela — the Tereus tragedy belongs to his daughters' generation.6
Erechtheus⚖
Won the war with Eleusis but perished when Poseidon destroyed him and his house (Apollodorus), when Zeus struck him with a thunderbolt at Poseidon's request (Hyginus), or simply fell in battle (Pausanias).7
Cecrops
Eldest son of Erechtheus; succeeded after Poseidon destroyed his father's house — not to be confused with the autochthonous Cecrops who named Cecropia.8
Pandion II
Driven out by the sons of Metion; fled to Megara, married Pylia, and became king there while the Metionids held Athens.9
Metion
The sons of Metion usurped the throne during Pandion II's exile; Pandion's sons Aegeus, Pallas, Nisus and Lycus returned from Megara and expelled them.10
Aegeus⚖
Eldest of the four restored Pandionids, he took the whole power; childless until Theseus. Pausanias preserves a variant that makes him a supposititious son of Scyrius rather than of Pandion.11
Theseus⚖
Son of Aegeus alone in Homer, of Poseidon in Pausanias, or of both on the same night in Apollodorus and Hyginus — slayer of the Minotaur, unifier of Attica, the great Athenian hero-king.12
Menestheus
Son of Peteos; while Theseus lay imprisoned in Hades (or abroad in Thesprotia), Menestheus seized Athens and expelled Demophon and Acamas — or was himself restored from exile when the Dioscuri captured Aphidna. He ruled during the Trojan War and led fifty ships unmatched in marshalling chariots and shield-bearers save Nestor alone; when Theseus returned, Menestheus drove him out to Scyros. After Troy he reigned on Melos.13
⁂
the spine ignites as you read · the reign index on the card follows your place · starred rulers link to their codices
HER SKY
a mini-galaxy of 83 dwellers
MYTHS SET HERE
21 tales walk these walls
… and 16 more
ON THE MAP
in Attica — Attica
Coordinates: Pleiades gazetteer, CC BY · place 579885