The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)

by Apollodorus

  Three early kings: Cranaos, Amphictyon, and Erichthonios

  5 When Cecrops died, Cranaos [became king]. He was born from the earth, and it was during his reign that Deucalion’s flood is said to have taken place. He married a woman from Lacedaimon, Pedias, daughter of Mynes, who bore him Cranae, Cranaichme, and Atthis. This Atthis died while still a young girl, and Cranaos named the country Attica after her.

  6 Cranaos was driven out by Amphictyon, who took over the throne. Some call him a son of Deucalion, while others say that he was born from the earth. When he had ruled for twelve years, Erichthonios drove him out. Some say that Erichthonios was a son of Hephaistos and Atthis, daughter of Cranaos, while according to others, he was born to Hephaistos and Athene,* in the following way. Athene visited Hephaistos, wanting to fashion some arms. But Hephaistos, who had been deserted by Aphrodite, yielded to his desire for Athene and began to chase after her, while the goddess for her part tried to escape. When he caught up with her at the expense of much effort (for he was lame), he tried to make love with her. But she, being chaste and a virgin, would not permit it, and he ejaculated over the goddess’s leg. In disgust, she wiped the semen away with a piece of wool* and threw it to the ground. As she was fleeing, Erichthonios came to birth from the seed that had fallen on the earth. Athene reared the child in secret from the other gods, wishing to make him immortal; and placing him in a chest, she entrusted it to Pandrosos, the daughter of Cecrops, telling her not to open it. Out of curiosity, however, the sisters of Pandrosos opened it, and beheld a snake* lying coiled beside the baby; and according to some, they were destroyed by the snake itself, while according to others, they were driven mad through the anger of Athene and hurled themselves from the Acropolis. After Erichthonios had been brought up by Athene herself within her sanctuary,* he expelled Amphictyon and became king of Athens. He erected the wooden image of Athene* on the Acropolis, and founded the festival of the Panathenaia;* and he married Praxithea, a naiad nymph, who bore him a son, Pandion.

  Pandion I and his children; Icarios and Erigone; Tereus, Procne, and Philomela

  7 When Erichthonios died, he was buried in the same precinct of Athene, and Pandion became king. It was during his reign that Demeter and Dionysos came to Attica. But Demeter was welcomed by Celeos at Eleusis,* and Dionysos by Icarios, who received a vine-cutting from the god and learned the art of wine-making. Wanting to pass the god’s blessings on to mankind, Icarios visited some shepherds, who, after a taste of the drink, enjoyed it so much that they drank it down in quantities without water, and then, imagining that they had been poisoned, killed Icarios. When day came and they were sober again, they buried him. While his daughter, Erigone, was searching for her father, a pet dog named Maira, which had accompanied him, revealed his dead body to her; and in her grief for her father, she hanged herself.

  8 Pandion married his mother’s sister, Zeuxippe, and fathered two daughters, Procne and Philomela, and twin sons, Erechtheus and Boutes. When war broke out with Labdacos* over the boundaries of the land, he summoned Tereus, son of Ares, to his assistance from Thrace, and after he had brought the war to a successful conclusion with his help, he gave Tereus his own daughter, Procne, in marriage. Tereus had a son, Itys, by her, but he conceived a passion for Philomela also, and raped her; and telling her that Procne was dead, he hid her away in the country* and cut out her tongue. But she wove characters into a robe and used these to reveal her sufferings to Procne. After recovering her sister, Procne killed her son, Itys, boiled him, and served him as a meal to her unknowing husband; and then she fled in all haste with her sister. When Tereus realized what had happened, he snatched up an axe and set out in pursuit. Finding themselves overtaken as they reached Daulis in Phocis,* the sisters prayed to the gods to be turned into birds. Procne became a nightingale, and Philomela a swallow;* and Tereus, who was also transformed into a bird, became a hoopoe.

  1 When Pandion died, his sons divided the paternal inheritance

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  between them, Erechtheus taking the kingdom, and Boutes the priesthood of Athene and Poseidon Erechtheus.* And Erechtheus married Praxithea, the daughter of Phrasimos and Diogeneia, daughter of Cephisos, and had three sons, Cecrops, Pandoros, and Metion, and four daughters, Procris, Creousa, Chthonia, and Oreithuia, who was carried off by Boreas.

  Procris and Cephalos; Oreithuia and her children

  Chthonia was married to Boutes, Creousa to Xouthos, and Procris to Cephalos, son of Deion. In return for a golden crown, Procris went to bed with Pteleon;* and when she was caught by Cephalos, she fled to Minos, who fell in love with her and urged her to have intercourse with him. Now if a woman had intercourse with Minos, it was impossible for her to come out alive; for Minos had been unfaithful with so many women that Pasiphae had put a spell on him, and whenever he slept with another woman, Minos discharged harmful beasts* into her genitals, and the women died as a result. But Minos had a fast-running dog* and a javelin that never missed its mark, and to obtain these, Procris gave him a drink from the Circaean root* to prevent him from causing her any harm, and then went to bed with him. Afterwards, however, through fear of Pasiphae, she returned to Athens. Becoming reconciled with Cephalos, she accompanied him when he went hunting (for she was herself a skilful hunter). But as she was chasing a beast in the thicket, Cephalos threw his javelin without realizing that she was there, and hit Procris, causing her death. He was tried for this in the Areiopagos and condemned to perpetual exile.

  2 While Oreithuia was playing by the River Ilissos, Boreas carried her off* and had intercourse with her; and she gave birth to two daughters, Cleopatra and Chione, and two winged sons, Zetes and Calais, who sailed with Jason and met their death while pursuing the Harpies* (or according to Acousilaos, were killed by Heracles* on Tenos). 3 Phineus married Cleopatra, and had two sons by her, Plexippos and Pandion. After having these sons by Cleopatra, he married Idaia, daughter of Dardanos, and when she came to Phineus with false allegations that her stepsons had tried to seduce her, Phineus believed her and blinded them both. The Argonauts, as they sailed by with Boreas, punished him for this.*

  Eumolpos, and the war with Eleusis; the exile of Pandion II

  4 Chione had intercourse with Poseidon. In secret from her father, she gave birth to Eumolpos, and to escape discovery, threw the child into the sea. But Poseidon recovered him, and taking him to Ethiopia, entrusted him to Benthesicyme (a daughter of his by Amphitrite) to bring up. When he was of age, the husband of Benthesicyme gave him one of their two daughters as a wife; but he tried to rape his wife’s sister, and for that reason, he was banished from the land. Accompanied by his son Ismaros, he went to Tegyrios, king of Thrace, who offered his daughter in marriage to Eumolpos’ son. Later when he plotted against Tegyrios and was detected, he fled to the Eleusinians* and made friends with them. Subsequently, on the death of Ismaros, he was summoned back by Tegyrios, and on his return, he resolved their former differences, and succeeded him on the throne.

  When war broke out between the Athenians and the Eleusinians, and the Eleusinians asked him to come to their aid, he fought as their ally with a large force of Thracians. Erechtheus consulted the oracle about how the Athenians could achieve victory, and the god declared that they would be successful in the war if he slaughtered one of his daughters. And when he slaughtered the youngest, the others killed themselves too; for they had sworn a pact, some people said, to die together. In the battle that followed the sacrifice, Erechtheus killed Eumolpos; 5 but Poseidon destroyed Erechtheus* and his house, and Cecrops, the eldest of the sons of Erechtheus, then became king. He married Metiadousa, daughter of Eupalamos, and fathered a son, Pandion. And Pandion ruled after Cecrops, but he was expelled by the sons of Metion in a revolt, and went to the court of Pylas in Megara, where he married the king’s daughter, Pylia. Later he was even made king of the city; for Pylas, after killing his father’s brother Bias, transferred the kingdom to Pandion,* while he himself departed to the Peloponnese with some of his people and
founded the city of Pylos.*

  Aigeus and the conception of Theseus

  During his time in Megara, Pandion had the following sons, Aigeus, Pallas, Nisos, and Lycos (though some claim that Aigeus was a son of Scyrios, who was passed off by Pandion as his own son). 6 After the death of Pandion, his sons marched on Athens, expelled the sons of Metion, and divided the kingdom into four; but Aigeus held all the power. He married as his first wife Meta, daughter of Hoples, and as his second, Chalciope, daughter of Rhexenor. When he failed to have a child, he grew afraid of his brothers, and went to Pytho* to ask the oracle how he could have children. The god replied:

  The bulging mouth of the wineskin,* most excellent of men, Untie it not until you have arrived at the height of Athens.

  7 Baffled by the oracle, he departed again for Athens, travelling by way of Troezen,* where he stayed with Pittheus, son of Pelops; and Pittheus, grasping the sense of the oracle, made Aigeus drunk and ensured that he went to bed with his daughter, Aithra. On the same night Poseidon slept with her too.* Aigeus gave instructions to Aithra, telling her that if she gave birth to a male child, she should bring him up without telling him who his father was; and, leaving a sword and a pair of sandals under a rock, he said that when her son could roll the rock aside and recover them, she should send her son to him bearing these tokens.

  The war with Minos and the origin of the tribute to the Minotaur

  Aigeus himself returned to Athens, where he celebrated the games of the Panathenaia. During these games, Androgeos, the son of Minos, defeated all others, and Aigeus sent him to confront the bull of Marathon,* which killed him. According to some accounts, however, as he was travelling to Thebes to take part in the games held in honour of Laios, he was ambushed by his fellow competitors, and murdered out of jealousy. Minos received the news of his death as hi was sacrificing to the Graces in Paros. He cast the garland from his head and silenced the flutes, but completed the sacrifice none the less; that is why, even to this day, they sacrifice to the Graces in Paros without flutes and garlands. 8 Not long afterwards, being master of the sea, Minos attacked Athens with a fleet; and he captured Megara, which was then under the rule of Nisos, a son of Pandion, and killed Megareus,* son of Hippomenes, who had come from Onchestos to the aid of Nisos. Nisos met his death also, through the treachery of his daughter. For he had a purple hair on the middle of his head, and an oracle had declared that if it were pulled out, he would die; and his daughter Scylla, who had fallen in love with Minos, pulled the hair out. But when Minos had gained control of Megara, he tied the girl by her feet to the prow of a ship and drowned her.*

  When the war dragged on and he was unable to capture Athens, Minos prayed to Zeus to grant him vengeance on the Athenians. The city was then afflicted by a famine and a plague. First, obeying an ancient oracle, the Athenians slaughtered the daughters of Hyacinthos, Antheis, Aigleis, Lytaia, and Orthaia, on the grave of Geraistos the Cyclops. (Their father, Hyacinthos,* had come from Lacedaimon to settle in Athens.) But when this had no effect, they asked the oracle how they could be rid of their troubles, and the god replied that they should offer Minos whatever satisfaction he chose. So they sent a deputation to Minos, and allowed him to claim a penalty at his own discretion; and Minos ordered them to send seven boys and seven girls, all unarmed, to serve as food for the Minotaur. Now the Minotaur was confined in a labyrinth,* and anyone who entered it found it impossible to escape, for its maze of winding ways ensured that the way out remained undiscoverable. It was constructed by Daidalos, son of Eupalamos, son of Metion and Alcippe. 9 For Daidalos was an excellent architect and the first man to invent statues, and he had fled from Athens because he had hurled Talos, the son of his sister Perdix, from the Acropolis. This Talos was his pupil, and he was so gifted that Daidalos was afraid that he would be outshone by him, since Talos, using a snake’s jawbone* that he had found, had managed to saw through a thin piece of wood. After the corpse was discovered, Daidalos was tried in the Areiopagos, and when he was found guilty, went into exile at the court of Minos, †

  The labours of Theseus, and his arrival at Athens

  l Aithra bore to Aigeus a son, Theseus.* When he was fully

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  grown, he pushed back the rock, recovered the sandals and the sword,* and hurried on foot to Athens; and he cleared the road,* which was beset by evildoers. First, in Epidauros he killed Periphetes, son of Hephaistos and Anticleia, who was referred to as Corynetes* [or the Club-Man] because of the club that he carried; for being weak on his feet, he carried an iron club, and used it to kill passers-by. Theseus seized the club from Periphetes and carried it himself ever after. 2 Secondly, he killed Sinis, son of Polypemon and Sylea, daughter of Corinthos. Sinis was referred to as Pityocamptes [or the Pine-Bender]; for living on the Isthmus of Corinth, he forced passers-by to bend pine trees to the ground and hold them down, and when they were too weak to do so, they were hurled into the air* by the trees to meet with a miserable death. Theseus killed him in that very manner.

  EPITOME

  1 Thirdly, he killed at Crommyon the sow known as Phaia,

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  which was named after the old woman who had reared it; some say that it was the offspring of Echidna and Typhon. 2 Fourthly he killed Sceiron the Corinthian, a son of Pelops, or, according to some, of Poseidon. Sceiron occupied the rocks in the Megarid which are named the Sceironian Rocks because of him, and forced passers-by to wash his feet; and as they did so, he would kick them into the deep to become the prey of a giant turtle. 3 But Theseus grasped Sceiron by the feet and flung him [into the sea]. Fifthly, in Eleusis, he killed Cercyon, son of Branchos and a nymph, Argiope. Cercyon forced passers-by to wrestle with him, and killed them during the fight. Theseus raised him into the air and dashed him to the ground. 4 Sixthly, he killed Damastes, whom some call Polypemon.* He had a house by the roadside and made up two beds, one small and the other large. Offering hospitality to passers-by, he would place short men on the large bed and beat them out with hammers to make them the same length as the bed, but tall men he would place on the small bed, and saw off the parts of their bodies that projected beyond it.

  So in this way, Theseus cleared the road, and arrived in Athens. 5 But Medea, who was married to Aigeus at the time, schemed against him* and persuaded Aigeus to beware of him, alleging that he was a conspirator. Aigeus, failing to recognize him as his son, was afraid, and sent him out against the bull of Marathon* in the expectation that he would be destroyed by it. 6 When Theseus had killed the beast, Aigeus offered him some poison that he had received from Medea that very day. But as Theseus was about to drink the potion, he presented the sword to his father, and when Aigeus recognized it, he knocked the cup out of his hands. After he had been recognized by his father and informed of the plot, Theseus drove Medea from the land.

  Theseus, Ariadne, and the killing of the Minotaur

  7 When the third tribute was sent to the Minotaur,* he was included on the list, or, according to some, he offered himself as a volunteer. As the ship had a black sail, Aigeus ordered his son to raise white sails on it if he came back alive. 8 When Theseus arrived in Crete, Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, fell in love with him and promised to assist him if he would agree to take her away to Athens and have her as his wife. When Theseus agreed on oath to do so, she asked Daidalos to reveal how it was possible to escape from the Labyrinth. 9 On his advice, she gave Theseus a thread as he entered. He attached it to the door and played it out as he went in; and discovering the Minotaur in the innermost part of the Labyrinth, he killed it with blows from his fists, and then made his way out again by pulling back on the thread. [On the journey back,] he arrived at Naxos by night with Ariadne and the children.* There Dionysos fell in love with Ariadne* and carried her off; and taking her to Lemnos, he had intercourse with her, fathering Thoas, Staphylos, Oinopion, and Peparethos.

  10 In his grief for Ariadne, Theseus forgot to spread white sails on his ship as he put into port. And when Aigeus saw from the Acropolis
that the ship had a black sail, he thought that Theseus had died, and threw himself down to his death. 11 Theseus then succeeded him as king of Athens, and killed the sons of Pallas,* who were fifty in number; and in the same way, all who tried to rebel were killed by him, and he held sole power.

  Excursus: Daidalos and Icaros, and the death of Minos

  12 When Minos learned that Theseus and his companions had escaped, he enclosed Daidalos—who was to blame for it—in the Labyrinth, together with his son Icaros (who had been borne to him by Naucrate, a slave of Minos). But Daidalos constructed wings for himself and his son; and as his son took flight, he warned him not to fly too high, for fear that the glue would be melted by the sun and the wings would come loose, nor to fly too close to the sea, for fear that they would come loose because of the moisture. 13 But Icaros disregarded his father’s instructions and in his elation soared higher and higher; and when the glue melted, he plunged into the sea which is named the Icarian Sea* because of him, and perished. [Daidalos for his part escaped safely to Camicos in Sicily.]