ABSTRACT
Daughter of Pittheus, king of Troezen, and mother of Theseus. She was first betrothed to Bellerophon, but when he was exiled from Corinth for murder Pittheus called off the wedding. When Aegeus came to Troezen, Pittheus sent her to the island of Sphaeria, where Aegeus spent a night with her. (Later, the story was put about that she had been visited by Poseidon, perhaps to prevent scandal, and Theseus, to whom she subsequently gave birth, was often called Poseidon’s son.) Before leaving Troezen, Aegeus placed the tokens proving his association with her (a sword and sandals) under a boulder. Later, after Theseus became king at Athens, Aethra went to live with him. But while he was in the Underworld with Pirithous, Castor and Polydeuces carried Aethra off to be Helen’s slave, as a reprisal for Theseus’ theft of Helen. At the same time they rescued Helen from Aphidnae in Attica, where Aethra had been in charge of her. Helen took Aethra with her to Troy, and after its fall Agamemnon allowed Demophon and Acamas, Aethra’s grandsons, to take her back to Attica.
