Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/237

 PANDION AND AGEUS. 205 to one of the Athenian months, was attached to the aid thus ren- dered by Ion. 1 "We pass from Ion to persons of far greater mythical dignity and interest, JEgeus and his son Theseus. Pandion had four sons, JEgeus, Nisus, Lykus, and Pallas, between whom he divided his dominions. Nisus received the territory of Megaris, which had been under the sway of Pandion, and there founded the seaport of Niscea. Lykus was made king of the eastern coast, but a dispute afterwards ensued, and he quit- ted the country altogether, to establish himself on the southern coast of Asia Minor among the Termilge, to whom he gave the name of Lykians. 2 .^Egeus, as the eldest of the four, became king of Athens ; but Pallas received a portion both of the south- western coast and the interior, and he as well as his children appear as frequent enemies both to ^Egeus and to Theseus. Pallas is the eponym of the deme Pallene, and the stories respecting him and his sons seem to be connected with old and standing feuds among the different demes of Attica, originally independent communities. These feuds penetrated into the legend, and explain the story which we find that JEgeus and Theseus were not genuine Erechtheids, the former being denomi- nated a supposititious child to Pandion. 3 -ZEgeus 4 has little importance in the mythical history except as the father of Theseus : it may even be doubted whether his name is anything more than a mere cognomen of the god Poseidon, who was (as we are told) the real father of this great Attic Herakles. As I pretend only to give a very brief outline of the general territory of Grecian legend, I cannot permit myself to recount in 1 Philochor. ap. Harpocrat. v. 9 Sophokl. ap. Strab. ix, p. 392 ; Herodot. i. 173 ; Strabo, xii. p. 573. 3 Plutarch, Theseus, c. 13, Atydif derbe jevo/j.evof Ilavdiovi, KOI roif ' Epexdsidaif TTpoat/Kuv. Apollodor. iij. 15, 6. 4 JEgeus had by Medea (who took refuge at Athens after her flight from Corinth J a son named Medus, who passed into Asia, and was considered as the eponymus and progenitor of the Median people. Datis, the general who commanded the invading Persian army at the battle of Marathon, sent a formal communication to the Athenians announcing himself as the descend- ant of Medos, and requiring to be admitted as king of Attica: snch is th statement of Dbdoros (Exc. Vatic. vii.-x. 48: see also Schol. Aristophao Pc. 289).