Historiae Romanorum

Aegeus

A king of Athens.  The son of Pandion and Pylia, and father of Theseus.

Aegeus was childless.  He went to the Oracle at Delphi to ask what should be done.  The Pythia responded  with the following statement:

The bulging mouth of the wineskin, most excellent of men,
Untie it not until you have arrived at the height of Athens.

On his way back to Athens, Aegeus visited King Pittheus in Troezen.  Realizing what the oracle meant, Pittheus got Aegeus drunk and had him sleep with his daughter Aethra.  Later that night, the god Poseidon also visited Aethra.  Before he departed the next day, Aegeus left his sword and and his sandals under a large rock.  He then instructed Aethra that, if she should bear him a son strong enough to lift the rock, she should send him with the sword and sandals to Athens.  In time, Aethra did have a son, whom she named Theseus.

Sometime after his return to Athens, Aegeus got involved in a war with Minos, the king of the Minoans.  Minos' son, Androgeus, was living in Athens.  An outstanding athlete, he won every event at the Panathenaic Games.  Out of jealousy, Aegeus and the Athenians killed him.  Seeking revenge, Minos and his powerful navy attacked.  Neither side could defeat the other, but eventually a plague forced the Athenians to sue for peace.  Minos demanded that the Athenians send him fourteen youths, seven girls and seven boys, as food for the Minotaur.

Two years later, Theseus arrived in Athens.  Aegeus held a banquet for the stranger, who had killed several bandits on his way.  But the wife of Aegeus, the famous sorceress Medea, told him that Theseus was planning on killing him.  Aegeus, fearing the stranger, sent him on a quest to kill the Bull of Marathon, expecting him to be killed.  Theseus succeeded, however, and returned.  Once again, Medea advised that Aegeus kill him.  She gave Aegeus some poison to kill him.  As Theseus was about to drink the poison, Aegeus noticed his sword in Theseus' possession.  Aegeus knocked the cup from his hands, and drove Medea from the land.

Theseus then asked his father if he could be sent as tribute to Crete, wishing to kill the Minotaur.  Aegeus agreed, but told his son to raise a white sail if he should return alive (being a ship of sorrow, it normally had black sails).  Theseus killed the Minotaur, but forgot to raise a white sail on his return.  Distraught, Aegeus flung himself into the sea and drowned.  That sea was from then on called the Aegean Sea.

Source(s):

1. Apollodorus.  Bibliotece.

This page was last updated on July 21, 2004.