Aegus (Ancient Greek: Α ἰ γεύς）， He is the king of Athens in Greek mythology and the father of Theseus, the hero of Attica.

According to mythology, Aegeus was the son of King Pandion of Athens and the grandson of Cleopatra. Pandion was ousted from the throne by several sons of his fellow tribe, including Opalamus, Sicyon, and Daedalus, and was forced to flee to Megara, where he married Piria, the daughter of the local king Pyrrhus. Pilia gave birth to four sons for Pandion: Aegus, Pallas, Nisus, and Lycus. After Pandion's death, Aegis and his three brothers marched into Athens and regained power from the sons of Matthias. Afterwards, the four brothers shared power, but Egus became the king. Another theory suggests that the one who usurped the power of Athens was the half human, half beast monster Pertus, and Aegus was the one who recaptured Athens from Pertus.

Androgus, the son of King Minos of Crete, defeated Aegis in all events and won the Athenian Games in Athens. Agus was extremely jealous and ordered Androgus to go and capture the harmful beast Marathon bison that ravaged the area near Athens. However, Androgus was killed by the bison instead. [2] Minos was angry and launched an attack on Athens, defeating the Athenians greatly. Egus was forced to make peace and promised to pay tribute to Crete seven pairs of boys and girls every year (some say every nine years) for the consumption of the monster Minotaur (Minotaur was born to the marathon bison and the wife of Minos, Pasifah).
On the other hand, due to offending the goddess Aphrodite, neither of Aegean's two wives (the first being Motha and the second being Calcaope) were able to give birth to him. Egus, who suffered from the lack of male offspring, sought the oracle of Delphi and received the answer, "Even if you see the best person, you cannot untie the mouth of the wine bag until you reach the highest point in Athens, otherwise you will die in sorrow.". [3] Egus didn't understand what this oracle meant. He returned to Athens via Tro and was warmly welcomed by the local king Pitus. Bitus understood the enigmatic prophecy (that Aegis would have a great son on his way back to Athens, but this son would lead to his death), so he managed to intoxicate Aegis and introduce him to his daughter Etra. Egus had a relationship with Etra while he was drunk, which led to Etra becoming pregnant and later giving birth to Theseus. Some myths say that on the same night, Athena led Etra on a sleepwalk to the island of Scyria, and as a result, the sea god Poseidon suddenly appeared and took possession of Etra. Therefore, Theseus may also be the son of Poseidon.

After Etra became pregnant, Aegus decided to return to Athens. Before leaving, he pressed his sandals, shield, and sword under a large stone. Egus told Etra that their son should go and retrieve the weapon under the boulder when he grows up, which can be considered a test he left for his son. After returning to Athens, Aegis married Medea, who had just left Jason and fled from Corinth to Athens. Medea promised Aegis that she would definitely have a son for him, and the result was indeed true. The son born to Aegis and Medea was Medus.
Theseus gradually grew into a brave young man in Tro. He successfully moved the boulder and took out his father's weapon. Etra then revealed his father's identity and asked him to bring those weapons to Athens to seek refuge with him. Theseus arrived in Athens after an adventure, on the 8th day of the Hundred Ox Festival. After arriving in Athens, Theseus did not immediately reveal his identity. Aegis received him with suspicion, while Medea relied on magic to understand that this young man was Aegis's son. In order to maintain her son's position, Medea attempted to kill Theseus. She first encouraged Aegis to send Theseus to hunt and kill the marathon bison, and as a result, Theseus successfully completed the task.
Medea attempted to poison Theseus again, but Egus recognized at the last moment that Theseus was wearing his own sword and struck down the cup of poisonous wine held by Theseus. After the father and son met, Medea was forced to flee to Corcas with Medus. [4] At this time, Aegis's throne in Athens was not stable. His brother Pallas's 50 sons attempted to seize his power, spreading rumors that he was just Pandion's adopted son. After Aegis declared Theseus as his own son and heir to the throne, the sons of Pallas jumped out to oppose and fought against Theseus, all of whom were eliminated.
Later, Theseus decided to go to Crete to kill Minotaur and relieve Athens of the terrible tribute. Before departure, Aegis and Theseus agreed that if Theseus successfully killed the monster, he would change to a white sail on the ship when returning (the ship Theseus was sailing on had a black sail). Theseus successfully killed Minotaur, but forgot about this agreement with his father. Egus, who was looking forward to his son by the seaside, saw that the returning ship was still hanging black sails and mistakenly thought that his son had died. In grief, he jumped into the sea and committed suicide. In this way, Egus's life fulfilled that prophecy. [5] The sea thrown by Aegean is therefore named the Aegean Sea (meaning "Aegean Sea").

Soviet mythologists believed that the story of Aegis belongs to a typical deductive myth. The legend of Aegean suicide by throwing himself into the sea was actually created by the ancient Greeks who could not understand the name of the Aegean Sea, as the name "Aegean Sea" originated from pre Greek times and cannot be explained in Greek. And "Aegus" itself may be one of the local aliases of the sea god Poseidon (which explains the issue of his son Theseus' biological father identity). Later, with the expansion of the Olympus religion, Poseidon's position as a national sea god was established, and Egus became an independent figure; But there is still evidence remaining of his connection with Poseidon: a nickname for Poseidon in the classical era was "Poseidon Egus".

The ancient Greek tragic writer Sophocles wrote a tragedy called Aegis; This play has been lost. Egus is also an important character in Euripides' tragedy Medea.
When passing through Athens, the geographer Pausanias of the Roman Empire once heard that Aegus had founded an ancient local sect that worshipped Aphrodite Urania: Aegus was cursed for offending Aphrodite, making him and his sisters unable to have children; In order to redeem himself, Aegis introduced the worship of Aphrodite to Athens.
There are temples in Athens dedicated to Aegis.

1 ^ Pseudo Apollodoros, III; Baosanias, X
2 ^ Pseudo Apollodoros, Library, 3.15.7
3 ^ Plutarch, "The Great Greek and Roman Biographies of Theseus"; Pseudo Apollodoros, Library, III, 15.6
4 ^ Pseudo Apollodoros, Mythological Abstract, 1.5-1.7
5 ^ Theodorus Siculus, 4.61.4; Plutarch, "The Great Men of Greece and Rome: Theseus", 17, 22; Baosanias, 1.22.5; Xu Guinus, "Legend Collection", 41, 43
6 ^ Pseudo Apollodoros, Mythological Abstract
7 ^ "Dictionary of Mythology", page 39
8 ^ Baosanias, 1.14.6