Cranaus married
Pedias, a
Spartan woman and daughter of
Mynes, with whom he had three daughters:
Cranaë,
Cranaechme, and
Atthis.[2] Atthis gave her name to
Attica after dying, possibly as a young girl,[3] although in other traditions she was the mother, by
Hephaestus, of
Erichthonius.
Rarus was also given as a son of Cranaus.[4]
Reign
Cranaus was supposed to have reigned for either nine or ten years and was an
autochthonous (born from the earth), like his predecessor. During his reign the flood of the
Deucalion story was thought to have occurred. In some accounts, Deucalion was said to have fled
Lycorea to Athens with his sons
Hellen and
Amphictyon.[5] Deucalion died shortly thereafter and was said to have been buried near Athens. Amphictyon is said to have married one of the daughters of Cranaus.
Cranaus was deposed by Amphictyon son of Deucalion, who was himself later deposed by
Erichthonius.[6] Cranaus fled to
Lamptrae, where he died and was buried. His tomb was still there in the times of Pausanias.[7] Cranaus was venerated as
hero in Athens; his priests came from the family Charidae.[8]
The people of Attica were referred to as Kranaoi[9] after Cranaus, and Athens as Kranaa[10] or Kranaai.[11]
Pindar, The Odes of Pindar including the Principal Fragments with an Introduction and an English Translation by Sir John Sandys, Litt.D., FBA. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1937.
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.