THE EARLY AGE OF GREECE VOL.I by W.Ridgeway 1901

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WHO WERE THE MAKERS ? 149
Falerii. A good parallel for the use of Tyrrhenian as an
epithet of Pelasgians is afforded by Thucydides himself in
the case of the Hyhlaean Megarians of Sicily \ This only
means that there were Megarians living at Hybla, and certainly
no one would seriously argue from it that all Megarians were
that certain scholais
Hyblaeans. And yet this is just the way
have been arguing from the phrase Tyrrhenian Pelasgi.
We may tlierefore conclude that the basis of Montelius'
theory is unsound and that it therefore must be rejected.
Moreover, the arguments to be given (p. 270) against the (\\rian
hypothesis hold e([ually against all theories which postulate
that the Mycenean culture has emanated from Asia Minor.
Furthermore, whilst Di- Montelius admits the reliability of the
tradition which represents the Pelasgians as entering Italy
from Greece, ho shuts his eyes to the equally reliable body of
traditions which maintain that the movement of the Pelasgians
was towards and not from Asia Minor. He must mete out the
same measure to both series of traditions, and either accept
both or reject both.
When we presently come to Etruria, we shall find that all
the evidence, traditional, epigraphieal, and linguistic, is against
the ethnical identity of Pelasgians and 'JVrrheni.
Let us now^ turn to the tradition concerning the royal line
of Athens.
"
They say that Acteus was thc^ first wIkj reigned in what
is now called Attica; and on his death (Jecrops succeeded to
the throne, being the husband of Acteus' daughter. There
were ])oni to him three daughtei's, Herse, Aglaurus, and Pandrosus,
and a son Er> sichthon. The son did not come to the
kingdom, l)ut died in his f;ithcr's lifotJine, and Cecrops was
succeeded on the throne l)v (Ji-anaus, the most powerful of the
Atheinaiis. 'l'he\' sav that- ( 'I'aiiaus liud daughters, among
whom was At this: alter her they named tlu; country Attica,
whieli bef'oi-e was caHed Actaea. IWit Amj)hictyon lose up
against C'ranaus, and de|>(sed him, though he had thKnrav toii% T/iXaiors K,\r;('f'i'ras.
150 WHO WERE THE MAKERS ?
niiis had no human being for father, but that his parents were
Hephaestus and Earths Erichthonius was succeeded by Pandiou
I., wiio was succeeded by Erechtheus, who was succeeded
by Cecrops II., who was succeeded by Pandion II. The latter
was driven out by the Metionids, and took refuge witli Pylas,
king of Megara, whose daughter he had married. Pandion's
sons drove out the Metionids and Aegeus the eldest became
king of Athens.
To Aegeus, Aethra, daughter of Pittheus, king of Troezen,
bore Theseus, though many held that Theseus was begotten by
no earthly father, but by Poseidon himself^
Towards the close of his life Theseus was supplanted by
Menestheus, son of Peteos, who was son of Orneus, son of
Erechtheus. Peteos had been expelled from Attica by Aegeus,
but when Theseus was absent on his ill-fated Thesprotian raid,
Menestheus was restored to Athens, and expelleil the sons of
Theseus (who fled to Euboea), and led the Athenian contingent
to Troy, where he perished^ Then the sons of Theseus I'eturned
to Athens, and Demophon became king. He was succeeded by
his son Oxyntes, who in his turn was succeeded by his son
Thymoetes. At this time Melanthus, king of Messenia, in consequence
of the Dorian invasion took refug(i in Athens. Melanthus
was descended from Neleus, who, as we saw, bi-ou^-ht a
colony of Pelasgians from lolcus into Messenia. Melanthus
was succeeded by his son Codrus, who according to popular
tradition was the last king of Athens. His son Medon succeeded
his father as archon for life, and his descendants (the
Medontids) continued to hold the life archonship until ]?. c. 752,
when on the death of Alcmaeon the office was made decennial.
As miglit have been expected these gi'iiealogies have been
treated as fictions by scholars, but Toptfer'* has successfully
maintained the credibility of the Medontid pedigrc>e against
the onslaught of i)r Wilamowitz von Moellendortf '.
^
Pans. I. 2, ;>.
- Id. I. 17, 3; n. ;{(), '.)
;
]5accli.ylid(!s, It. Pau^. ii. 2"), o.
xvii. 71
'
^ " ])ic Liste (let- atlicti. Kruii^c," Ilcniu's, xxxi. ])]>.
\i)'i sijij. ; Ucitn'ii/c ~ur
firicrh. .I!trrliiiii!