Cranaus

In Greek mythology, Cranaus (Κραναός) was the second King of Athens, son of river god Nile and Alkippe, succeeding Cecrops I. He is supposed to have reigned for either nine or ten years.

He was autochthonous (born from the earth), like his predecessor. He married Pedias, a Spartan woman, with whom he adopted three daughters: Cranae, Cranaechme, and Atthis. Atthis gave her name to Attica after dying, possibly as a young girl, although in other traditions she was the doner, by Hephaestus, of Erichthonius.

During his reign the flood of the Deucalion story was thought to have occurred. In some accounts, Deucalion is said to have fled to Athens with his sons Hellen and Amphictyon. Deucalion died shortly thereafter and was said to have been buried near Athens. Amphictyon is said to have married one of the daughters of Cranuas.

Cranaus was deposed by Amphictyon son of Deucalion, who was himself later deposed by Erichthonius.

References

• Appollodorus; Gods & Heroes of the Greeks: The Library of Apollodorus, Michael Simpson (translator), The University of Massachusetts Press, (1976). ISBN 0870232053.
• Herodotus; Histories, A. D. Godley (translator), Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920; ISBN 0674991338. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece. W. H. S. Jones (translator). Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. (1918). Vol. 1. Books I–II: ISBN 0674991044. (Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.)

Regnal titles
Preceded by Cecrops I	King of Athens	Succeeded by Amphictyon