Sophocles conceives the union of the Attic communes (commemorated by the annual festival of the συνοίκια in August) as already accomplished by Theseus. Athens is the capital, all the people of Attica being reckoned as its citizens (“ἁπάντων ἤδη ξυντελούντων ἐς αὐτήν,” Thuc. 2.15). Isocr. or. 10 § 18 speaks of Theseus as “ὁ λεγόμενος μὲν Αἰγέως, γενόμενος δ᾽ ἐκ Ποσειδῶνος”. Aegeus, too, was said to have been king of Athens: see on 297; and was the eponymus of one of the ten Attic tribes (“Αἰγηὶς φυλή,” Andoc. or. 1 § 62). He gave the title to a lost play of Sophocles.
This text is part of:
Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part II: The Oedipus Coloneus. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1899.
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