Pallene

Pallene was a celebrated deme of ancient Athens, frequently mentioned by ancient writers and in inscriptions. Myth The location is associated with a number of Greek myths. During the Gigantomachy, Athena slew the giant Pallas at the site, flayed him, and turned his skin into a cloak. Another version says that the victim was the Gorgon rather than Pallas. Later, Hephaestus attempted to rape Athena and got his sperm on her thigh. She wiped it off onto the ground, where Gaia gave birth to Erichthonius. She put the baby in a basket and entrusted it to the daughters of Cecrops with strict instructions not to open it, then went to Pallene to get a rock that would form the foundations of a temple for her on the Acropolis. As she carried it back, a crow told her that the daughters of Cecrops had opened the basket and, in her rage, she dropped the rock on the ground, where it remains as Mount Lycabettus. At a later stage, Eurystheus died fighting against the Athenians and Heracleidae at Pallene and was buried in front of the temple of Athena Pallenis. According to myth, the Pallantidae went to war with their cousin Theseus. When Pallas was marching from Sphettus in the Mesogaea against Athens, he placed a body of his troops in ambush at Gargettus, under the command of his two sons, who were ordered, as soon as he was engaged with the army of Theseus, to march rapidly upon Athens and take the city by surprise, But the stratagem was revealed to Theseus by Leos of Hagnus, the herald of Pallas, whereupon Theseus cut to pieces the troops at Gargettus. In consequence of this a lasting enmity followed between the inhabitants of Pallene and Hagnous. After the battle, Theseus married his son Hippolytus to Pallas' sister Aricia.