Metion

In Greek mythology, Metion (Ancient Greek: Μητίων) was an Athenian prince and member of the royal Erechtheid clan, renowned as the son of King Erechtheus of Athens and his wife Praxithea, daughter of Phrasimus and Diogeneia.^[1] As one of Erechtheus's sons alongside brothers Cecrops and Pandorus, Metion belonged to the early lineage of Athenian kings, tracing descent from the autochthonous hero Erichthonius.^[1] Metion's most notable role in myth centers on his descendants, the Metionidae—his sons—who staged a sedition and expelled their cousin Pandion (son of Cecrops) from the Athenian throne, temporarily seizing power during a turbulent period of royal succession.^[1] This usurpation forced Pandion to flee to Pylas at Megara, where he married Pylia and fathered sons including Aegeus, who later returned with his brothers to oust the Metionidae and restore the line.^[1] The episode underscores themes of familial rivalry and dynastic instability in early Attic legend, with the Metionidae representing a brief interruption in the Erechtheid hegemony.^[1] Variant traditions further link Metion to the genealogy of the legendary craftsman Daedalus, portraying him either as Daedalus's direct father or as the father of Eupalamus, Daedalus's parent, thus positioning Metion within the inventive Metionid clan associated with Athenian artistry and Erechtheid heritage. These accounts, preserved in historiographical works, emphasize Metion's place in a broader mythic framework connecting craftsmanship, kingship, and divine patronage from Athena.

Identity and Parentage

Primary Lineage

In Greek mythology, Metion is primarily attested as an Athenian prince and son of King Erechtheus and his wife Praxithea.^[1] Erechtheus, a foundational mythical king of Athens, was the son of Pandion and Zeuxippe. In some traditions, Erechtheus is identified with Erichthonius, who was born from the earth (Gaia) and raised by the goddess Athena after his autochthonous birth; she installed him in her temple on the Acropolis.^[2] This origin underscored his role as an earth-born ruler, symbolizing the deep ties between the Athenian people and their land in early genealogical traditions. Praxithea, Metion's mother, was the daughter of Phrasimus and Diogeneia, the latter being a daughter of the river-god Cephisus, which imbued her with a semi-divine heritage linked to Attic waterways and naiadic elements.^[1] As queen consort to Erechtheus, Praxithea bore several children, positioning Metion within the early royal lineage of Athens as one of the named sons alongside Cecrops and Pandorus.^[1] This parentage placed Metion firmly in the Erechtheid line, a branch of Athenian mythology emphasizing autochthony and divine patronage from Athena.

Variant Traditions

In some ancient accounts, Metion's lineage is traced through Eupalamus rather than directly to Erechtheus. Diodorus Siculus records this variant in his Library of History, stating that Daedalus belonged to the Erechthid clan as the son of Metion, who was the son of Eupalamus and grandson of Erechtheus, emphasizing Metion's place within the royal Athenian house while inserting an additional generation. A different tradition links Metion more closely to the autochthonous origins of Athens by making him the son of Erichthonius and Praxithea. This genealogy, preserved in Pausanias' Description of Greece, connects Metion to the primordial heroes of Attica, highlighting the divine and indigenous roots of the Athenian nobility.^[3] Such variant genealogies reflect ancient efforts to resolve inconsistencies in the Athenian king lists or to underscore specific heroic or autochthonous ancestries for cultural and political emphasis.

Family

Spouse and Marriage

In Greek mythology, Metion married Alcippe. This marital alliance underscored the intricate web of kinship ties among the early Athenian royal houses, enhancing Metion's status as a son of Erechtheus and facilitating the integration of lineages descending from autochthonous rulers.^[4] The union itself lacks elaborate mythological narratives in surviving ancient accounts, with no tales of courtship, ceremony, or divine intervention preserved. Instead, its primary importance lies in its dynastic implications, as it produced the Metionidae, a group of sons whose existence bolstered claims to the Athenian throne and influenced patterns of succession in the royal family. Variant traditions occasionally name Metion's spouse as Iphinoe, suggesting fluidity in these genealogical details, but the association with Alcippe prevails in key references to his household.^[4]^[1]

Children and Descendants

In Greek mythology, Metion fathered several sons collectively referred to as the Metionidae, forming a distinct collateral branch of the Erechtheid royal lineage in Athens.^[3] This group is primarily known through ancient accounts as a unified familial bloc that briefly asserted power against the main Pandionid line descending from their cousin Pandion, son of Cecrops.^[5] Unlike the Pandionids, who maintained long-term succession to the Athenian throne, the Metionidae represented a short-lived extension of the genealogy, emerging as challengers but ultimately failing to establish enduring dominance.^[3] The Metionidae's immediate impact centered on their collective action to disrupt the ruling order, highlighting internal divisions within the Erechtheid family. Apollodorus notes that these sons of Metion drove Pandion into exile at Megara during a period of sedition, temporarily seizing control of Athens.^[5] However, this branch's influence waned when Pandion's sons—Aegeus, Pallas, Nisus, and Lycus—returned from banishment and expelled the Metionidae, restoring the primary line.^[3] Pausanias further identifies the Metionidae as a royal Athenian clan, underscoring their status as a recognized but subordinate kin group tied to Metion's legacy.^[6] While primary sources rarely enumerate individual names for the Metionidae as a whole, certain traditions highlight specific descendants to illustrate the branch's scope. For instance, Eupalamus is named as Metion's son, who in turn fathered the famed inventor Daedalus, linking the group to notable figures in myth.^[7] Pausanias also attributes Sicyon, the eponymous founder of Sicyon, to Metion directly, suggesting the clan's reach extended beyond Athens.^[8] In variant accounts preserved by Pherecydes, Daedalus is portrayed as Metion's direct son by Alcippe, emphasizing maternal ties to family continuity.^[9] These extensions portray the Metionidae as a dynamic yet ephemeral offshoot, confined to a single generation of prominence before fading from the central narrative of Athenian kingship.

Mythological Role

Usurpation of the Athenian Throne

In the aftermath of King Erechtheus' death, Athens experienced a period of succession instability within the royal family, creating opportunities for internal power struggles among his sons. An oracle had directed the Athenians to recognize Xuthus, husband of Erechtheus' daughter Creusa, as the new king, but Metion, along with his brothers such as Pandorus, opposed this external claimant and actively participated in his expulsion from the city. This collective action by the brothers effectively prevented Xuthus from assuming the throne and ensured that power remained within Erechtheus' direct male line, with Cecrops II, Metion's brother, succeeding instead.^[6] Metion's role in this early usurpation highlighted his opportunistic nature as a prince seeking to influence the direction of Athenian kingship during a time of vulnerability. The crisis underscored the tensions in post-Erechtheus Athens, where fraternal alliances and rivalries shaped the transfer of authority amid ambiguous oracular guidance.^[10] Subsequently, Metion's lineage continued this pattern of ambition. After Cecrops II's death, his son Pandion ascended the throne, but Metion's sons—collectively known as the Metionidae—seized control by driving Pandion into exile, thereby temporarily installing Metion's branch of the family in power. Ancient sources attribute this direct agency to the Metionidae.^[1]^[3]

Conflict with Pandion

In Greek mythology, the descendants of Metion, known as the Metionidae, seized power in Athens by expelling their cousin Pandion II, the son of Cecrops II, during a period of sedition.^[1] This act of usurpation stemmed from the familial rivalries within the house of Erechtheus, where Metion's sons sought to consolidate influence following their father's own challenges to the throne.^[3] Pandion II fled to Megara, where he found refuge under King Pylas and married his daughter, Pylia, establishing ties that would prove crucial to his restoration.^[1] According to Pausanias, Pandion died in exile on the Megarid coast, at a site known as the rock of Athena the Gannet, where his tomb was later located; his children accompanied him in banishment.^[3] The sons of Pandion—Aegeus, Pallas, Nisus, and Lycus—later launched a counter-expedition against Athens, aided by Pylas of Megara, successfully ousting the Metionidae and reclaiming the kingdom.^[1]^[3] This defeat led to the permanent exile of the Metionidae, effectively ending the political influence of Metion's lineage in Athenian affairs.^[1] Within the broader mythical chronology of Athens, this conflict is situated in the generation immediately after Erechtheus, aligning with equivalents of the late Bronze Age in legendary timelines, prior to the era of Theseus and the Trojan War cycle.^[1]^[3]

Legacy and Depictions

In Ancient Sources

In Apollodorus's Bibliotheca, Metion is referenced indirectly through his sons, the Metionidae, who play a role in a succession dispute among Athenian kings. In Book 3.15.5, Apollodorus describes how Pandion, son of Cecrops and grandson of Erechtheus, "was expelled by the sons of Metion in a sedition" and fled to Megara, where he married the daughter of King Pylas.^[1] Pausanias provides more detail on the Metionidae's usurpation and a variant tradition regarding Metion's parentage in his Description of Greece. In 1.5.3, he notes that the second Pandion, son of Cecrops (himself a son of Erechtheus), "was driven out by the Metionidae, and fled to Pylas in Megara; he died there, and was buried on the rock called the rock of Athena Gannet." Pausanias continues in 1.5.4 that Pandion's sons later "expelled the Metionidae, and returned from banishment at Megara," allowing Aegeus to assume the throne as the eldest. Additionally, in 2.6.2, Pausanias records an alternative genealogy, stating that some traditions made Sicyon the son "of Metion the son of Erechtheus," a lineage confirmed by the poet Asius, though Hesiod attributed Sicyon directly to Erechtheus.^[3]^[8] References to Metion in other ancient texts are sparse but consistent in portraying him within Athenian royal lineages, often as an ancestor tied to Erechtheus. Pausanias cites Hesiod in connection with Erechtheus's descendants, emphasizing Metion's role in early Attic heroic pedigrees. Across these sources, Metion emerges as a minor antagonist in Athenian-centric myths, primarily through the disruptive actions of his sons against the legitimate royal line, highlighting themes of sedition and restoration in early Attic history.^[3]^[1]

Interpretations in Scholarship

Scholars interpret Metion's mythological role primarily as a symbol of failed usurpation within the evolving narrative of Athenian kingship, reflecting efforts to legitimize autochthonous rule and consolidate identity against external or internal threats. In Robert Graves' influential analysis, Metion, as son of Erechtheus, quarrels violently with his brother Cecrops over succession to the Athenian throne after their father's death at Poseidon's hands, embodying disputes over hereditary privileges and the precarious nature of royal authority in early Attic lore. This portrayal underscores Metion's ultimate failure, as his lineage is later displaced, serving to reinforce the primacy of Erechtheid descendants like Pandion in Athenian self-conception.^[11] Such interpretations highlight how Metion's story contributed to identity-building by contrasting illegitimate ambition with divinely sanctioned continuity.^[11] Ancient accounts reveal significant gaps in coverage of Metion, particularly regarding variant parentages that scholars attribute to the syncretic evolution of Athenian genealogies from oral traditions. While Pausanias and Apollodorus consistently name Erechtheus as Metion's father, linking him to Praxithea, these inconsistencies point to incomplete mythological records, where Metion's role as a secondary figure lacks the archaeological corroboration seen in major Erechtheid cults on the Acropolis, such as the Erechtheion temple complex.^[11] Post-2000 studies have increasingly focused on gender dynamics within Metion's lineage, particularly through Praxithea, his mother, and related female figures like Alcippe, to explore how myths reinforced or subverted Athenian ideals of femininity and civic participation. In examinations of Euripides' fragmentary Erechtheus, Praxithea emerges as a liminal character who transcends traditional maternal roles by endorsing her daughter's sacrificial death for the city's salvation, effectively adopting a heroic, male-coded civic duty that swaps gendered expectations of agency and sacrifice. This duality—Praxithea as devoted wife, priestess, and patriot—illustrates how Erechtheid women embodied equilibrium between domesticity and public service, challenging patriarchal norms while upholding autochthony.^[12] Alcippe, connected via Metion's son Eupalamus as mother of Daedalus, receives less attention but is analyzed in broader contexts as a symbol of inventive lineage passing through female mediation, underscoring subtle matrilineal influences in otherwise patrilineal myths.^[13]