Pandion II

In Greek mythology, Pandion II (/ˈpændiən/ or /ˈpændiɒn/; Ancient Greek: Πανδίων) was a legendary King of Athens, the son and heir of Cecrops II and his wife Metiadusa, and the father of Aegeus, Pallas, Nisos and Lycus.[1]

For other uses, see Pandion (mythology).

Mythology

Pandion II was the eighth king of Athens in the traditional line of succession as given by the third century BC Parian Chronicle, the chronographer Castor of Rhodes (probably from the late third-century Eratosthenes) and the Bibliotheca.[2] He was preceded by Cecrops I, Cranaus, Amphictyon, Erichthonius, Pandion I, Erechtheus, and Cecrops II, and succeeded by and Aegeus and Theseus. Castor gives his reign as 25 years (1307/6–1282/1).[3] Originally there may have been a single Pandion, and either Pandion I or Pandion II may have been a later invention in order to fill a gap in the mythical history of Athens.[4] Pausanias calls this Pandion the father of Procne and Philomela, usually considered to be the daughters of Pandion I.

Pandion was exiled from Athens by the sons of his uncle Metion who sought to put Metion on the throne. Pandion fled to Megara where he married Pylia, daughter of King Pylas. Later, Pylas went into voluntary exile to Messenia, because he had killed his uncle, Bias. Pylas then arranged for his son-in-law to be king of Megara. Pylia bore Pandion his four sons. When Pandion died at Megara, Nisos succeeded him as king. He had a hero shrine at Megara at the Bluff of Athene the Diver-bird. After this death, his other sons returned to Athens and drove out the sons of Metion, putting Aegeus on the throne.

Either Pandion II or Pandion I was usually identified with Pandion, the eponymous hero of the Attic tribe Pandionis.

Notes

1. Harding, pp. 48–50; Gantz, pp. 247–248; Smith, "Pandion 5."; Herodotus 1.173, 7.92; Apollodorus, 3.15.5; Strabo, 9.6.1; Pausanias, 1.5.3, 4.1.6 ff., 4.2.6.
2. Harding, p. 14, 42–50, Gantz, pp. 234–235, 247; Apollodorus, 3.14.5–3.15.5.
3. Harding, p. 48.
4. According to Kearns, p. 192, "originally there was only one Pandion"; but see Gantz, p. 235. Harding, p. 42 says: "It is usual to believe that one or the other of the two was invented for the purpose of fixing the chronographic calculations".

References

• Apollodorus, 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. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• 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).
• Graves, R (1955). "The Sons of Pandion". The Greek Myths. London: Penguin. pp. 320–23. ISBN 0-14-001026-2.
• Harding, Phillip, The Story of Athens: The Fragments of the Local Chronicles of Attika, Routledge, 2007. ISBN 9781134304479.
• Herodotus; Histories, A. D. Godley (translator), Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920; ISBN 0674991338. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Kearns, Emily, The Heroes of Attica (Bulletin Supplement 57), University of London Institute of Classical Studies 1989. ISBN 978-0900587603.
• Pausanias, 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. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• 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.
• Strabo, Geography, translated by Horace Leonard Jones; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. (1924).

Regnal titles
Preceded by Cecrops II	King of Athens	Succeeded by Aegeus