Theseus forgot to change his black sail, his father Aegeus threw himself down from the Acropolis, and Theseus became king of Athens

Greek tradition, as Plutarch tells it, says King Aegeus of Athens had no recognised son, and his brother Pallas's fifty sons expected the throne. Aegeus then recognised Theseus, his son by Aethra of Troezen, before an assembly of the citizens. The sons of Pallas called Theseus an immigrant and marched on Athens. Theseus fell on the half of them lying in ambush and killed them all. Athens owed Minos of Crete seven youths and seven maidens every nine years. The ship sailed under a black sail. Theseus went with the victims, and the pilot was to raise a white sail if he came home alive. He killed the Minotaur and forgot the sail. Aegeus saw the black sail and threw himself down. Pausanias places the spot on the Acropolis beside the temple of Wingless Victory, where the sea is visible. Other writers say he fell into the sea, which some traditions say was named the Aegean after him. Theseus became king. Plutarch says Athens kept his thirty-oared ship until the time of Demetrius of Phalerum, replacing its timbers. Late in life Theseus lost Athens to Menestheus. He went to Skyros to reclaim his family estates, and King Lycomedes threw him from a cliff. In 476 to 475 BC Cimon dug up a coffin on Skyros with a bronze spear and sword and carried the bones to Athens. Plutarch says they were buried in the heart of the city. The tomb's site is not identified^†.