In Greek Mythology, Aeacus, the son of Zeus and the nymph Aegina, is the king of the island of Aegina in the Gulf of Aronikos. Also known as Aeakus or Aiakos.

Aeacus was born on the island of Oenone or Oenopia, and Zeus brought the young woman here to protect her from her father's anger and to ensure that she gave birth safely, and after this event, the island began to be known as Aegina.

According to a legend, Zeus transformed a large number of ants on the uninhabited island into humans, enabling his son to become a king who would rule over a crowded people, so the new inhabitants of the island were called Myrmidons (Greek: ant people).

Ovid, on the other hand, recorded that a dragon sent by the jealous Hera destroyed the people of the island and forced them to flee (according to another, because of the plague) Zeus turned ants into humans and increased the island's population. Achilles later joined the Trojan war as the commander of the Myrmidons.

The myth of Aeacus must have been created to explain the migration of the island of Aegina, originally the homeland of the Pelasgians, from the Phthiotis region in Central Greece. Known for his justice and piety in all of Greece, Aeacus managed to end the famine by praying to Zeus at the request of the Greek people during a drought, and by building a temple called Zeus Panhellenius on Mount Panhellenion. In addition, the inhabitants of the island of Aegina built a rectangular temple called “Aeaceum” of white marble surrounded by walls.

According to a legend recorded by Pindar, Apollo and Poseidon used Aeacus as a helper while the walls of Troy were being built. Right after the completion of the construction, three snakes/dragons attacked the city, two of the monsters were unable to pass the wall made by the gods and died, while one of them partially entered the city built by Aeacus, which means that Apollo can only capture Troy by one of the descendants of Aeacus (Aeacidae). led to his prophecy. Indeed, the sons of Aeacus, Telamon and Peleus, were among the Achaeans in the Trojan campaign, along with Heracles, his grandson's son Neoptolemus, who conquered Troy for the first time.

Aeacus first had two sons, Telamon and Peleus (Achilles' father), by Skrion's daughter, Endeis, and later a son, Phocus (Greek: Seal), with Nereus' daughter—mermaid—Psamathe (Greek: Sand). . When Phocus was deliberately killed in an athletics competition by his brothers jealous of their success, Aeacus expelled his sons Telamon and Peleus from Aegina. He became famous as a just and pious man when Aecus exiled his sons, and was even tasked with quelling Zeus' anger during a famine.

While Ovid and Horace recorded that Aeacus was a judge in Hades with the Cretan brothers Rhadamanthus and Minos after his death due to his just behavior, Plato claimed that he judged spirits from Europe.

 

Source: Özhan Öztürk- World Mythology