Aegialeus (King of Sicyon)
First king and founder of Aegialea, later Sicyon.
Aegialeus, also known as Aegealeus or Egialeus, was a figure in classical Greek semi-mythical historiography regarded as the original settler of the Peloponnese. He is credited with founding and ruling the city-state of Aegialea, later known as Sicyon, as its first king.
Quick Facts
- Reign length
- 52 years
- Successor
- Europs
- City founded
- Aegialea (later Sicyon)
- Region named after him
- Aegialea (Peloponnese)
Facts from the source article.
Reign and descent
Castor of Rhodes recorded that Aegialeus reigned as first king of Sicyon for 52 years, a few generations before Inachus founded Argos. The Peloponnese was called Aegialea after him, and he was succeeded by Europs. Eusebius placed the start of his reign in the 15th year of Belus' reign in Assyria, while Jerome calculated it slightly later. Some sources instead made him the offspring of Phoroneus by his first wife Peitho, with a brother Apia.
Mythology
Pausanias wrote that the Sicyonians claimed Aegialeus was the first and aboriginal inhabitant of their land, that the district of the Peloponnese still called Aegialus was named after him because he reigned over it, and that he founded the city Aegialea on the plain. Their citadel, they said, was where their sanctuary of Athena later stood. Aegialeus begat Europs, Europs Telchis, and Telchis Apis. Aegialeus died childless, so the whole country was called Aegialia. Phoroneus then reigned over the land later named Peloponnese, and begat Apis and Niobe by the nymph Teledice. Niobe had by Zeus a son Argus, and Acusilaus added a son Pelasgus, after whom the Peloponnese inhabitants were called Pelasgians.
More in Mythological Founders of Populated Places
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