Pandion I


In Greek mythology, Pandion I was a legendary King of Athens, the son and heir to Erichthonius of Athens and his wife, the naiad Praxithea. Through his father he was the grandson of the god Hephaestus. He married a naiad, Zeuxippe, and they had two sons Erechtheus and Butes, and two daughters Procne and Philomela.

Reign and mythology

Pandion I was the fifth king of Athens in the traditional line of succession as given by the third century BC Parian Chronicle, the chronographer Castor of Rhodes and the Bibliotheca. He was preceded by Cecrops I, Cranaus, Amphictyon, and Erichthonius, and succeeded by Erechtheus, Cecrops II, and Pandion II. Castor makes Pandion I the son of Erichthonius and says he ruled for 40 years. It may be that either Pandion I or Pandion II was invented to fill a gap in the mythical history of Athens.
According to the Bibliotheca, Pandion fought a war with Labdacus, the king of Thebes, over boundaries, and married his daughter Procne to Tereus in exchange for help in the fighting, and it was during his reign that the gods Demeter and Dionysus came to Attica. After his death, the kingdom of Athens went to his son Erechtheus, while Butes received the priesthoods of Athena and "Poseidon Erechtheus". He is said to have died of grief when he discovered that his daughters, Procne and Philomela, had died.
Either Pandion I or Pandion II was usually identified with Pandion, the eponymous hero of the Attic tribe Pandionis.