Pandion I in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Pandion I

8 passages from 3 ancient authors that tell of Pandion I, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Pandion I was a king of Athens in Greek mythology, son of Erechtheus (also known as Erichthonius) and the naiad Praxithea. His wife was Zeuxippe, with... For the story in one place, read our article on Pandion I.

Apollodorus (2)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.15.1–3.16.2Erechtheus, Aegeus, Minos's war on Athens and the birth of TheseusPandion's sons divide his inheritance and Erechtheus becomes king; his daughters include Procris, killed accidentally by Cephalus, and Orithyia, carried off by Boreas. The section covers Cleopatra and Phineus, Eumolpus and the war with Erechtheus, who sacrifices his daughter, and Aegeus and his marriages. Minos, to avenge Androgeus, takes Megara through Scylla's treachery and imposes the tribute of youths and maidens for the Minotaur. It ends with the birth of Theseus to Aethra and his first two labours, where the surviving text of the Library breaks off.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.14.1–8Cecrops, Athena and Poseidon, and the early kings of AthensCecrops, a son of the soil, is the first king of Attica, and in his reign Athena and Poseidon contend for the land and the gods award it to Athena. The section covers Cecrops's daughters, Cephalus, Cinyras and Adonis, the kings Cranaus, Amphictyon and Erichthonius (born from Hephaestus's seed), the gift of wine to Icarius and Erigone's death, and ends with Pandion and the story of Procne, Philomela and Tereus.

Ovid (2)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.675–721Boreas and OrithyiaAfter the death of Pandion, Erechtheus (Erectheus) becomes king of Athens, and his daughter Orithyia is wooed by Boreas, the north wind. He asks in vain, and in the end carries her off by force, and she bears him the twin sons Zetes and Calais, who grow wings and later sail with the Argonauts.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.412–541Tereus and PhilomelaThe kings of Greece come to console Pelops, but Athens, beset by war, sends no one. Tereus, king of Thrace, who has helped Athens, is given the king's daughter Procne in an ill-omened marriage. Years later Procne asks to see her sister, and Tereus goes to Athens to fetch Philomela, and desires her. He takes her to a hut in the woods and rapes her, and she reproaches him bitterly and says that she will tell everyone what he has done.

Pausanias (4)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.5.1–5Athens: the Rotunda and the eponymous heroes of the tribesNear the Council House is the Rotunda, where the presidents sacrifice, and above it stand statues of the heroes who gave their names to the Athenian tribes, among them Hippothoon, Antiochus, Ajax, Leos, Erechtheus, Aegeus, Oeneus and Acamas. Pausanias distinguishes two kings called Cecrops and two called Pandion, and tells of Pandion’s exile at Megara and of Tereus, Procne and Philomela. He adds the later tribes named after Attalus, Ptolemy and the Emperor Hadrian, and mentions Hadrian’s benefactions.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.41.1–9Megara: tomb of Alcmena, the lion of Cithaeron and the tomb of TereusPausanias describes the tomb of Alcmena, the altar of Achelous, the tomb of Hyllus, and the temple of Apollo and Artemis built by Alcathous after he killed the lion of Cithaeron. He criticises the Megarian version of the story, arguing that Alcathous came after the fall of Megara in Nisus’ reign. He then lists the shrine of Pandion, the tomb of the Amazon Hippolyte and the barrow of Tereus, whom he places at Daulis rather than Megara.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.39.1–6Eleusis to Megara: the Flowery Well, graves of the Seven and early MegaraOn the road from Eleusis to Megara Pausanias notes the Flowery Well where Demeter sat, the sanctuary of Metanira and the graves of the heroes who marched against Thebes, buried by Theseus. He adds the tomb of Alope and the wrestling-ground of Cercyon, then crosses into Megaris and gives the competing Megarian and Boeotian accounts of its origins, from Car, Lelex and Nisus to Sciron, Megareus and the Dorian takeover.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 4.1.1–9Messenia: Polycaon and Messene, and the mysteries of the Great GoddessesPausanias opens the Messenian book with the boundary at the glen Choerius and the tradition that Polycaon and his wife Messene founded the land and named it. He argues from Homer that Messene was originally a people, not a city, and records that Caucon brought the mysteries of the Great Goddesses from Eleusis, Lycus son of Pandion raised their honour, and Methapus refined them.