Before theAthenian democracy, thetyrants, and theArchons, thecity-state ofAthens was ruled bykings. Most of these are probablymythical or only semi-historical. The following lists contain the chronological order of the title King of Athens (also prescribed earlier as kings of Attica), a semi-mythological title.
Other sources mentioned two other ancient rulers of Athens:
Porphyrion - an earlier Athenian king than Actaeus. He was the reputed founder of the sanctuary ofHeavenly Aphrodite onAthmoneis, an Athenian deme.[4]
Colaenus -Hellanicus, the Mitylenian historian, tells that this surname of Artemis is derived from Colænus, King of Athens before Cecrops and a descendant of Hermes. In obedience to an oracle he erected a temple to the goddess, invoking her as Artemis Colænis (the Artemis of Colænus).
The early Athenian tradition, followed by the 3rd century BCParian Chronicle, made Cecrops, a mythical half-man half-serpent, the first king of Athens.[5] The dates for the following kings were conjectured centuries later, by historians of theHellenistic era who tried to backdate events by cross-referencing earlier sources such as the Parian Chronicle. Tradition says that King Menestheus took part in theTrojan War.
The following list follows that of 1st Century BCCastor of Rhodes (FGrHist 250), with Castor's dates given in modern terms.[6]
Melanthus was theNeleides king ofPylos inMessenia. Being driven out by theDorian and Heraclidae invasion, he came to Athens where Thymoetes resigned the crown to him. Codrus, the last king, repelled the Dorian invasion ofAttica.
After Codrus's death, his sons Medon and Acastus either reigned as kings, or became hereditaryarchons.[10][11] In 753 BC the hereditary archonship was replaced by a non-hereditary system (seeArchons of Athens).
^King of Agea, not Athens; The name of Ogyges is also connected with Attic mythology, for in Attica too an Ogygian flood is mentioned, and he is described as the father of the Attic heroEleusis (Pausanias,1.38.7)
^A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology: Oarses-Zygia. Edited by William Smith.Pg 20
Gantz, Timothy,Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes:ISBN978-0801853609 (Vol. 1),ISBN978-0801853623 (Vol. 2).
Harding, Phillip,The Story of Athens: The Fragments of the Local Chronicles of Attika, Routledge, 2007.ISBN9781134304479.
