Actaeus
{{Other uses|Actaeus (mythology)}}
{{short description|Ancient Greek mythological King of Athens}}
In Greek mythology, Actaeus ({{IPAc-en|æ|k|ˈ|t|iː|ə|s}}; {{Langx|grc|Ἀκταῖος|4=coast-man}}Hard, p. 365.), also called Actaeon,{{Cite web|url=http://www.ashmolean.museum/ash/faqs/q004/q004008.html|title=Interleaved Greek and English text (translation by Gillian Newing)|last=The Parian Marble|first=Fragment 2|date=March 7, 2001|website=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131225031833/http://www.ashmolean.museum/ash/faqs/q004/q004008.html|archive-date=December 25, 2013|access-date=January 24, 2019|url-status=dead}} was the first king of Attica, according to Pausanias.Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.2.6&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Actaeus 1.2.6]
Legend
Actaeus was said to have ruled over the kingdom of Attica, named Acte ({{lang|grc|Ἀκτή}} Akte) or Actica.
The ancient Parian Chronicle states that Actaeus gave Aktike{{Cite web |last=Berti |first=Monica |title=Digital Marmor Parium |url=https://www.digitalmarmorparium.org/chronology.html |access-date=2024-10-02 |website=www.digitalmarmorparium.org}} its name before it was changed to Cecropia by King Cecrops, and later became known as Attica. Another story tells that Atthis, a daughter of Cranaos, the king succeeding Cecrops in Athens, was Attica's namesake.
Actaeus (prior to 1582BC Parian) cannot be the same person as Aktaion (Grandson of Cadmus 1519BC Parian). Aktaion was the hero that saw Artemis bathing and she changed him into a stag. Afterwards, his own hounds killed him.{{Cite web |title=SOL Search |url=https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-cgi-bin/search.cgi?login=guest&enlogin=guest&db=REAL&field=adlerhw_gr&searchstr=alpha,1034 |access-date=2024-10-02 |website=www.cs.uky.edu}}
Family
King Actaeus had four daughters named Aglaurus, Erse and Pandrosos, who all got offspring, but a fourth daughter, Phoenice, who died a virgin. The wife of King Actaeus is obscure.
According to the Byzantine Suda Lexicon, the ancient Greek historian Scamon of Mytilene claimed that Actaeus named the Phoenician letters in honor of his daughter Phoenice, who had died a virgin.Suda, s.v. [https://topostext.org/work/240#phi.787 Phoenician letters] with the authority of Skamon in his second book on Discoveries
Paleontology
Actaeus armatus, a Middle Cambrian (~505 MA) arthropod from the Burgess Shale, was named after Actaeus.{{cite web|url= https://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/fossils/actaeus-armatus/|title= Actaeus armatus. Burgess Shale Fossil Gallery|website=Virtual Museum of Canada. (Burgess Shale species 23)|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230326150506/https://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/fossils/actaeus-armatus/|archive-date=March 26, 2023|url-status=live}}
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Notes
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References
- 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. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021 Greek text available from the same website].
- Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-415-18636-0}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC Google Books].
- 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}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0159 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
- Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.04.0104 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
- 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. [https://topostext.org/work/240 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
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