Ægeus

King of Athens, son of Pandion. Being desirous of having children, he went to consult the oracle, and on his return stopped at the court of Pit the us, king of Trœzene, who gave him his daughter Æthra in marriage. He directed her, if she had a son, to send him to Athens as soon as he could lift a stone under which he had concealed his sword. Æthra became mother of These us, whom she sent to Athens with his father’s sword, Ægeus being at that time living with Medea, the divorced wife of Jason. When These us came to Athens, Medea attempted to poison him, but he escaped; and upon showing Ægeus the sword, discovered himself to be his son. When These us returned from Crete, after the death of the Minotaur, he omitted to hoist up white sails, as a signal of succe , and at sight of black sails, Ægeus, concluding that his son was dead, threw himself into the sea, which, as some suppose, has since been called the Ægean sea. Ægeus died B. C. 1235.