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Before the Athenian democracy, the tyrants, and the Archons, the city-state of Athens was ruled by kings. Most of these are probably mythical or only semi-historical.
Earliest kings[edit]
These three kings were supposed to have ruled before the flood of the Deucalion myth.
| King | Comments |
|---|---|
| Periphas[1][2] | Priest of Apollo, and on account of his virtues he was made king |
| Ogyges[3][4] | King of the Ectenes[5] who were the earliest inhabitants of Boeotia |
| Actaeus | Father of Agraulus, and father-in-law to Cecrops |
Erechtheid dynasty[edit]
The early Athenian tradition, followed by the 3rd century BC Parian Chronicle, made Cecrops, a mythical half-man half-serpent, the first king of Athens.[6] The dates for the following kings were conjectured centuries later, by later historians of the Hellenistic era who tried to backdate events by cross-referencing earlier sources such as the Parian Chronicle. Tradition says that King Menestheus took part in the Trojan War.
The following list follows that of 1st Century BC Castor of Rhodes (FGrHist 250), with Castor's dates given in modern terms.[7]
| Reign | King | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 1556 - 1506 BC | Cecrops I | |
| 1506 - 1497 BC | Cranaus | |
| 1497 - 1487 BC | Amphictyon | |
| 1487 - 1437 BC | Erichthonius | |
| 1437 - 1397 BC | Pandion I | |
| 1397 - 1347 BC | Erechtheus | |
| 1347 - 1307 BC | Cecrops II | Omitted in Heraclides' epitome of Aristotle's Constitution of the Athenians.[8] |
| 1307 - 1282 BC | Pandion II | |
| 1282 - 1234 BC | Aegeus | Construction of Trojan Walls by Poseidon, Apollo and Aeacus (ca. 1282 BC) |
| 1234 - 1205 BC | Theseus | |
| 1205 - 1183 BC | Menestheus | Trojan War and the Sack of Troy[9] (ca. 1183 BC)[10] |
| 1183 - 1150 BC | Demophon | |
| 1150 - 1136 BC | Oxyntes | |
| 1136 - 1135 BC | Apheidas | |
| 1135 - 1127 BC | Thymoetes |
Melanthid dynasty[edit]
Melanthus having been driven from his kingdom in Pylos came to Athens where Thymoestes resigned the crown to him. Codrus, the last king, repelled the Dorian Invasion of Attica.
| Reign | King | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 1126 - 1089 BC | Melanthus | |
| 1089 - 1068 BC | Codrus |
After Codrus's death, his sons Medon and Acastus either reigned as kings, or became hereditary archons.[11][12] In 753 BC the hereditary archonship was replaced by a non-hereditary system (see Archons of Athens).
Notes[edit]
- ^ Smith, "Periphas".
- ^ Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion, Volume 2, Part 2 By A. B. Cook. Pg 1122
- ^ King of Agea, not Athens; The name of Ogyges is also connected with Attic story, for in Attica too an Ogygian flood is mentioned, and he is described as the father of the Attic hero Eleusis, and as the father of Daeira (Oceanid), the daughter of Oceanas. (Pans, i. 38. § 7.)
- ^ A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology: Oarses-Zygia. Edited by William Smith. Pg 20
- ^ or Hectenes
- ^ Harding, pp. 20–22; Gantz, p. 234.
- ^ Harding, p. 14.
- ^ Gantz, p. 235.
- ^ See also Iliupersis
- ^ Troy VIIa destruction layer at ca. 1190 BC
- ^ Pausanias's Description of Greece - Volume 3 - Page 64. (cf. The successors of Codrus were Medon (son of Codrus), Acastus (son of Medon) [...])
- ^ Aristotle, Constitution of the Athenians §3.
References[edit]
- Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1), ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).
- Harding, Phillip, The Story of Athens: The Fragments of the Local Chronicles of Attika, Routledge, 2007. ISBN 9781134304479.
- Jacoby, Felix, Die Attische Königsliste, Klio 3 (1902), 406-439.
- Smith, William; A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. William Smith, LLD. William Wayte. G. E. Marindin. Albemarle Street, London. John Murray. 1890. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
