Aeacus- Greek DemigodDemigod"King of Aegina"
Also known as: Aiakos and Αἰακός
Description
Zeus transformed the ants of a deserted island into the Myrmidons to give Aeacus a people to rule, and when drought afflicted all Greece, it was Aeacus whose prayers brought rain. He helped Apollo and Poseidon build the walls of Troy, and after death became one of three judges in the Underworld.
Mythology & Lore
Birth and the Myrmidons
Aeacus was the son of Zeus and the nymph Aegina, daughter of the river god Asopus. Zeus carried Aegina away to a deserted island in the Saronic Gulf, which came to bear her name, while Asopus searched the countryside in vain until Zeus drove him back with thunderbolts. There Aeacus was born and grew to manhood alone on the empty island until Zeus transformed its ants into a people — the Myrmidons — giving his son subjects to rule. Aeacus governed them justly, and when a terrible drought afflicted all of Greece, it was Aeacus the other Greeks turned to. He climbed Mount Panhellenion and prayed to his father, and Zeus answered with life-giving rain.
The Walls of Troy
When Apollo and Poseidon set out to build the walls of Troy for King Laomedon, they called upon Aeacus to assist them. The three raised the fortifications together, but a serpent tested the finished walls by attempting to scale them. It failed everywhere except at the section Aeacus had built with mortal hands. Apollo read the omen: Troy would one day fall through the portion built by a mortal — a prophecy that Pindar connects to Aeacus's own descendants among Troy's eventual conquerors.
The Murder of Phocus
By his wife Endeis, Aeacus fathered Peleus and Telamon. By the Nereid Psamathe, he fathered Phocus, a gifted athlete whose prowess stirred the jealousy of his half-brothers. Peleus and Telamon killed Phocus — whether by a rigged discus throw or outright assault varies by source — and Aeacus, discovering the crime, exiled both sons from Aegina forever. It was his last act as king. After death, Aeacus's justice followed him into the Underworld, where he became one of three judges of the dead alongside Minos and Rhadamanthus.