Actaeus

In Greek mythology, Actaeus (Ancient Greek: Ἀκταῖος Ἀktaῖos means "coast-man" ), also called Actaeon,  was the first king of Attica, according to Pausanias.

Family
Actaeus was the father of Aglaurus, and father-in-law to Cecrops, the first king of the city of Athens. In one account, in addition to Aglaurus, Actaeon fathered Erse, Pandrosus and Phoenike.

Mythology
According to the Suda, the ancient Greek historian Scamon of Mytilene claimed that Actaeus named the Phoenician letters in honor of his daughter Phoenice, who had died a virgin.

Actaeus was said to have ruled over a city named Acte (Ἀκτή Akte) or Actica . The location of this city is uncertain, but given that Acte means "coast" or "promontory", one can speculate that this is a culture reference to local or native population groups inhabiting some coastal areas of the Attic promontory, perhaps sharing language, or ethnic ties. This concords with evidence from the archaeological record which attest widespread coastal settlement in the Neolithic period (OED ad. loc. cit. Attica).

One tradition states that Actaeus gave Attica its name before it was changed to Cecropia by Cecrops, others claim that Atthis, a daughter of Cranaos, the second king of Athens, was Attica's namesake. Actaeus had a daughter – Agraulus, who was married to Cecrops, the first king of the city of Athens. According to the Bibliotheca, on the other hand, Cecrops was the first king of Attica, and the three daughters were his own.

Paleontology
Actaeus armatus, a Middle Cambrian (~505 MA) arthropod from the Burgess Shale, was named after Actaeus.