| Aeacus | |
|---|---|
King ofAegina | |
| Member of Judges of theUnderworld | |
 Aeacus and Telamon by Jean-Michel Moreau le Jeune | |
| Abode | Aegina |
| Genealogy | |
| Parents | Zeus and (1)Aegina or (2)Europa |
| Siblings | (1)Damocrateia, (1)Menoetius (half-brother); (2)Minos,Rhadamanthys andSarpedon |
| Consort | (1)Endeïs, (2)Psamathe, (3)unknown |
| Offspring | (1)Telamon andPeleus, (2)Phocus, (3)Alcimache |
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Aeacus (/ˈiːəkəs/; also spelledEacus;Ancient Greek: Αἰακός) was a king of the island ofAegina inGreek mythology. He was a son ofZeus and the nymphAegina, and the father of the heroesPeleus andTelamon.[1] According to legend, he was famous for his justice, and after he died he became one of the three judges in theunderworld alongsideMinos andRhadamanthus. In another story, he assistedPoseidon andApollo in building the walls ofTroy.
He had sanctuaries in Athens and Aegina, and the Aeginetan festival of the Aeacea (Αἰάκεια) was celebrated in his honour.
Aeacus was born on the island of Oenone or Oenopia, where his mother Aegina had been carried by Zeus to secure her from the anger of her parents; afterward, this island became known asAegina.[2] He was the father ofPeleus,Telamon andPhocus and was the grandfather of theTrojan war warriorsAchilles andTelemonian Ajax (aka Ajax the Greater). In some accounts, Aeacus had a daughter calledAlcimache who boreMedon toOileus ofLocris.[3] Aeacus's sons Peleus and Telamon were jealous of Phocus and killed him. When Aeacus learned about the murder, he exiled Peleus and Telamon.[4][5] Some traditions related that, at the time when Aeacus was born,Aegina was not yet inhabited, and that Zeus either changed the ants (μύρμηκες) of the island into the men (Myrmidons) over whom Aeacus ruled, or he made the men grow up out of the earth.[2]Ovid, on the other hand, supposed that the island was not uninhabited at the time of the birth of Aeacus, instead stating that during the reign of Aeacus,Hera, jealous of Aegina, ravaged the island bearing the name of the latter by sending a plague or a fearfuldragon into it, by which nearly all its inhabitants were carried off. Afterward, Zeus restored the population by changing the ants into men.[3]
These legends seem to be a mythical account of the colonization of Aegina, which seems to have been originally inhabited byPelasgians, and afterwards received colonists fromPhthiotis, the seat of the Myrmidons, and fromPhlius on theAsopus. While he reigned in Aegina, Aeacus was renowned in all Greece for his justice and piety, and was frequently called upon to settle disputes not only among men, but even among the gods themselves.[6] He was such a favourite with the latter, that when Greece was visited by adrought as a consequence of a murder that had been committed, the oracle of Delphi declared that the calamity would not cease unless Aeacus prayed to the gods to end it.[7] Aeacus prayed, and as a result, the drought ceased. Aeacus then demonstrated his gratitude by erecting a temple toZeus Panhellenius on Mount Panhellenion,[8] and afterward, the Aeginetans built a sanctuary on their island called Aeaceum, which was a square temple enclosed by walls of white marble. Aeacus was believed in later times to be buried under the altar of thissacred enclosure.[9]
A legend preserved inPindar relates thatApollo andPoseidon took Aeacus as their assistant in building the walls ofTroy.[10] When the work was completed, threedragons rushed against the wall, and though the two that attacked the sections of the wall built by the gods fell down dead, the third forced its way into the city through the portion of the wall built by Aeacus. Thereafter, Apollo prophesied that Troy would fall at the hands of Aeacus's descendants, the Aeacidae (i.e. his sons Telamon and Peleus joinedHeracles when he sieged the city during Laomedon's rule. Later, his great-grandson Neoptolemus was present in the wooden horse).
Aeacus was also believed by the Aeginetans to have surrounded their island with high cliffs in order to protect it againstpirates.[9] Several other incidents connected to the story of Aeacus are mentioned byOvid.[11] ByEndeïs Aeacus had two sons,Telamon (father ofAjax andTeucer) andPeleus (father ofAchilles), and byPsamathe a son,Phocus, whom he preferred to the former two sons, both of whom conspired to kill Phocus during a contest, and then subsequently fled from their native island.
After his death, Aeacus became one of the three judges in Hades (along with hisCretan half-brothersRhadamanthus andMinos)[12] and, according toPlato, was specifically concerned with the shades of Europeans upon their arrival to the underworld.[13] In works of art he was depicted bearing a sceptre and the keys of Hades.[14] Aeacus had sanctuaries in bothAthens and inAegina,[15] and the Aeginetans regarded him as the tutelary deity of their island and celebrated theAeacea in his honor.[16]
InThe Frogs (405 BC) byAristophanes,Dionysus descends to Hades and proclaims himself to beHeracles. Aeacus, lamenting the fact that Heracles had stolenCerberus, sentences Dionysus toAcheron to be tormented by the hounds ofCocytus, theEchidna, the Tartesian eel, and Tithrasian Gorgons.
Aeacus was the son ofZeus byAegina, a daughter of the river-godAsopus, and thus, brother ofDamocrateia.[17] In some accounts, his mother wasEuropa and thus possible full-brother toMinos,Rhadamanthus andSarpedon.[18] He was the father ofPeleus,Telamon andPhocus and was the grandfather of theTrojan war warriorsAchilles andTelemonian Ajax. In some accounts, Aeacus had a daughter calledAlcimache who boreMedon toOileus ofLocris.[3] Aeacus's sons Peleus and Telamon were jealous of Phocus and killed him. When Aeacus learned about the murder, he exiled Peleus and Telamon.[4] Aeacus's descendants are collectively known as Aeacidae (Αἰακίδαι).[19] Several times in theIliad, Homer refers to Achilles as Αἰακίδης (Aiakides: II.860, 874; IX.184, 191, etc.). Thekings of Epirus andOlympias, mother toAlexander the Great, claimed to be members of this lineage.
| Aeacus king of Aegina ∞ 1.Endeïs oread of mount Pelion 2.Psamathe (Nereid) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (1)Telamon king of Salamis | (1)Peleus ∞Thetis | (2)Phocus of Aegina | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ajax the Great | Teucer | Achilles king of Phthia ∞Deidamia (daughter of Lycomedes) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Trambelus | Neoptolemus/Pyrrhus king of Epirus ∞Andromache | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Molossus king of Epirus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MOLOSSIANS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Aeacus".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
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