Aeacus

This article is about the figure from Greek mythology; for the Iberian god see  Eacus Aeacus (Greek , "bewailing" or "earth borne") was mythological king in the island of Aegina in the Saronic Gulf.He was son of Zeus and Aegina, a daughter of the river-god Asopus. He was born in the island of Oenone or Oenopia, to which Aegina had been carried by Zeus to secure her from the anger of her parents, and whence this island was afterwards called Aegina. According to some accounts Aeacus was a son of Zeus and Europa. Some traditions related that at the time when Aeacus was born, Aegina was not yet inhabited, and that Zeus changed the ants of the island into men (Myrmidons) over whom Aeacus ruled, or that he made men grow up out of the earth.  Ovid, on the other hand, supposes that the island was not unin­habited at the time of the birth of Aeacus, and states that, in the reign of Aeacus, Hera, jealous of Aegina, ravaged the island bearing the name of the latter by sending a plague or a fearful dragon into it, by which nearly all its inhabitants were carried off, and that Zeus restored the population by changing the ants into men.
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[Greek heroic] Aeacus is the son of Zeus and Aegina. He was the monarch of the island of Aegina, which was named after his mother. When his country was depopulated by the plague, he prayed to Zeus to grant him new subjects. Zeus then provided a new population by changing ants into people. They were called the Myrmidons ("ant-people"), who later took part in the Greek expedition against Troy, led by Achilles. Aeacus was the father of the heroes Telamon and Peleus and the grandfather of Achilles. Aeacus was the favorite of the gods and was so renowned for his piety that after his death he was made one of the judges of the realm of Hades, along with Minos and Rhadamanthys. 

Aeacus aiakos (Greek) In Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Aegina (daughter of a river god), father of Telamon and Peleus, grandfather of Ajax, Achilles, and Neoptolemus. He ruled the Myrmidons, whom Zeus had created for him out of ants, and helped to erect the walls of Troy. Known for his piety and justice, he was worshiped as a demigod at Aegina and Athens, and after his death was made a judge in the underworld. {}