Semi-legendary king of Athens
InGreek mythology,Cecrops II (/ˈsiːkrɒps/;Ancient Greek: Κέκροψ,Kékrops;gen.: Κέκροπος) was the legendary or semi-legendary seventh king ofAthens and in whose reign the deeds ofDionysus andPerseus occurred.[1]
Cecrops was the son ofPandion I, king ofAthens[2][3] and possibly thenaiadZeuxippe, and thus brother toErechtheus,Butes,Procne,Philomela andTeuthras.[4] In some accounts, his parents were identified to be King Erechtheus and the naiadPraxithea and thus he was brother toPandorus,Metion,[5]Protogeneia,Pandora,Procris,Creusa,Orithyia andChthonia.[6] His other possible siblings wereOrneus,[7]Thespius,[8]Eupalamus,[9]Sicyon[10] andMerope.[11]
Cecrops marriedMetiadusa, daughter of Eupalamus (his brother[9] or a son of Metion[12]), by whom he became the father of his heir,Pandion II.[13]
AfterPoseidon having destroyed Erechtheus and his house during the war between Athens andEleusis, Cecrops being the eldest of the dead king's children, succeeded to the throne.[12] He was chosen by the appointed judge Xuthus, his brother-in-law, who was accordingly banished from the land by the rest of the sons of Erechtheus.[14]
After ruling for 40 years,[15] he was ousted byMetion andPandorus, and fled toAegilia or Aegialea where he would die.[citation needed]
Cecrops was succeeded in Athens by his sonPandion II (though Pandion II has also been said to be his nephew, the son of Erechtheus[citation needed]).
- ^Eusebius,Chronography66
- ^Pausanias,9.33.1
- ^Cecrops was identified as the brother of Erechtheus and thus, the son of Pandion I as cited inJerome,ChroniconB1347 & Eusebius,Chronography66
- ^Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v.Thespeia
- ^Apollodorus,3.15.1
- ^Suida, s.v.Maidens, Virgins
- ^Pausanias,2.25.6;Plutarch,Theseus 32.1; Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v.Orneiai
- ^Diodorus Siculus,4.29.2
- ^abDiodorus Siculus,4.76.1
- ^Pausanias,2.6.5, citingHesiod (Ehoiai fr. 224) forErechtheus
- ^Plutarch,Theseus 19.5
- ^abApollodorus,3.15.5
- ^Apollodorus,3.15.1; Pausanias,1.5.3
- ^Pausanias,7.1.2
- ^Jerome,ChroniconB1347
- Apollodorus,The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website.
- Diodorus Siculus,The Library of History translated byCharles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes.Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8.Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
- Diodorus Siculus,Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890.Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus,Lives with an English Translation by Bernadotte Perrin. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. 1.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website.
- Pausanias,Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.ISBN 0-674-99328-4.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
- Pausanias,Graeciae Descriptio.3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Stephanus of Byzantium,Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt, edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling.Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Suida,Suda Encyclopedia translated by Ross Scaife, David Whitehead, William Hutton, Catharine Roth, Jennifer Benedict, Gregory Hays, Malcolm Heath Sean M. Redmond, Nicholas Fincher, Patrick Rourke, Elizabeth Vandiver, Raphael Finkel, Frederick Williams, Carl Widstrand, Robert Dyer, Joseph L. Rife, Oliver Phillips and many others.Online version at the Topos Text Project.
