#aegeidae

This is from the Andromache scholium 10, with the brackets inserted by the Center for Hellenic Studies, who clarify that the source for this, Dionysius of Chalcis, lived in the 4th century BC. This isn't just some Roman/Medieval fix-it-fic or whatever, it is ancient.

Stesichorus attests that he [Astyanax] was killed, and the poet of the Cycle who composed the Iliou Persis attests that he [Astyanax] was thrown off the walls of Troy. And Euripides has followed this tradition. But there are those who say that he [the son of Hector] founded cities and ruled as king over them, and the opinions of these sources are written up by Lysimachus [3rd century BC] in the second book of his Nostoi: “Dionysius of Chalkis [4th century BC] says that Acamas [of Athens], having taken--through his ties with Laodice--Scamandrius the son of Hector and Ascanius the son of Aeneas from Helenus and from Anchises, attempted to fortify with walls Ilion and Dardanus, but, when the Athenians entreated him not to do so, then, having stopped his attempt at controlling the region of Troy, went on to found the cities of Gergis, Perkōtē, Kolōnai, Khrusē, Ophrynion, Sidēnē, Astyra, Scepsis, Polikhnē, and in addition to these, Daskyleion and Iliou Kolōnē and Arisba, designating as founders of these cities Scamandrius and Ascanius.”

Ahhhh I love this so much for so many reasons.

First of all, Aegeidae W + Laodice W kidnapping the kids before they could be killed at Troy (it's, like, not even really kidnapping considering Astyanax is just as much her nephew as he is Helenus')

My headcanon for how this happened is that Acamas claimed to have thrown the kids off the walls of Troy himself, right into a pyre onto which they were already burning. So their bodies "couldn't be recovered." Meanwhile, as Andromache wailed, the children were rushed off by Laodice, Acamas' fiance. He then reunited with them, his brother Demophon, aunt Clymene, grandma Aethra, and son Munitus before all 8 of them rushed off to Thrace. Demophon went back to Athens, but figured his family would be safest in Thrace, as Tzetzes says iirc.

Can also headcanon that Acamas, after tragically losing Munitus and Laodice, reunited Scamandrius with his mother Andromache + Helenus, and invited them back to the Trojan cities he had helped to rebuild.

Then were Demophoon and Acamas By mighty Theseus' mother Aethra met. Yearning to see them was she guided on To meet them by some Blessed God, the while 'wildered from war and fire she fled. They saw In that red glare a woman royal-tall, Imperial-molded, and they weened that this Was Priam's queen, and with swift eagerness Laid hands on her, to lead her captive thence To the Danaans; but piteously she moaned: "Ah, do not, noble sons of warrior Greeks, To your ships hale me, as if I were a foe! I am not of Trojan birth: of Danaans came My princely blood renowned. In Troezen's halls Pittheus begat me, Aegeus wedded me, And of my womb sprang Theseus glory-crowned. For great Zeus' sake, for your dear parents' sake, I pray you, if the seed of Theseus came Hither with Atreus' sons, O bring ye me Unto their yearning eyes. I trow they be Young men like you. My soul shall be refreshed If living I behold those chieftains twain." Hearkening to her they called their sire to mind, His deeds for Helen's sake, and how the sons Of Zeus the Thunderer in the old time smote Aphidnae, when, because these were but babes, Their nurses hid them far from peril of fight; And Aethra they remembered -- all she endured Through wars, as mother-in-law at first, and thrall Thereafter of Helen. Dumb for joy were they, Till spake Demophoon to that wistful one: "Even now the Gods fulfil thine heart's desire: We whom thou seest are the sons of him, Thy noble son: thee shall our loving hands Bear to the ships: with joy to Hellas' soil Thee will we bring, where once thou wast a queen." Then his great father's mother clasped him round With clinging arms: she kissed his shoulders broad, His head, his breast, his bearded lips she kissed, And Acamas she kissed too, all the while she shed Glad tears on these who could not choose but weep. Just as when one tarries long amid foreign men, And folk report him dead, but suddenly He cometh home: his children see his face, And break into glad weeping; yea, and he, His arms around them, and their little heads Upon his shoulders, sobs: echoes the home With happy mourning's music-beating wings; So wept they with sweet sighs and sorrowless moans.

@galusandmalus I thought this would interest you, if you haven't read it before

I'm on the verge of tears after reading this i'm ngl. Aethra kissing her grandbabies for coming to save her makes me so emotional

Here is an ancient vase painting of a scene similar to this one, though the vase is much older than the poem (around 700 years older, or so), with Demophon on the left and Acamas on the right. I assume that this might be when she protests she is not a Trojan, but a Greek, right before they let her go (as the above poem displays).

Here is an unrelated vase titled today as The Farewell in the Hellenic National Archaeology Museum, of Aethra pouring libations/a drink for Theseus before he leaves to fight the Minotaur and save the innocent Athenian children. Aegeus is also there to wish him goodbye, and it is the last time Theseus will ever see his father, since he will end his life before their reunion.

she looked so young back then