In
Greek mythology, the
Pallantidai were the fifty sons of
Pallas, nobles of
Attica, and rivals of their uncle
Aegeus and his son
Theseus over the Athenian throne.
Diodorus Siculus related that they once became friends with
Androgeos, a son of
Minos, and that was why Aegeus had Androgeos assassinated, fearing that Pallas and his sons could use this friendship to get assistance from the powerful Minos against him. After Aegeus' death the Pallantidae and their father marched against Theseus because they would not accept him as king and hoped to gain control over Athens. According to
Plutarch, one half of them under command of Pallas openly marched from Sphettus, while the other half laid an ambush near Gargettus. Their plan failed though, because
Leos, their herald, warned Theseus of their schemes and an ambush they had prepared for him. Theseus pre-emptively ambushed the Pallantides and killed all those at Gargettus, whereupon the other half retreated. Other sources state that Theseus killed all the fifty Pallantidae as well as Pallas. A tradition saying that he spared their sister,
Aricia, whom he kept as slave, is followed in
Jean Racine's
Phèdre but is not supported by extant genuinely ancient sources.