Aegeus is the King of Athens and the mortal father of Theseus. The hero ends up inspiring his father's death when he forgets to change the black sail of his ship to a white one upon returning to Athens from Crete. The black sail misleads Aegeus into thinking that Theseus was killed by the Minotaur and so the grief-stricken Aegeus hurls himself into the sea which to this day is call the Aegean. Besides the myths of Theseus, Aegeus also pops up as a character in Medea, the tragedy by Euripides.