CODRUS, the last king of Athens, son of Melanthus, reigned, according to tradition, about 1008 B. 0. The legend relates that when Attica was invaded by the Dorian Heracjidse from Peloponnesus, the oracle declared that those would be victorious whose king should be slain. Codrus thereupon determined to sacrifice himself, entered the camp of the enemy in disguise, provoked a quarrel with the common soldiers, and was slain in the fray. The Dorians, having learned the death of the Attic king, abstained from hostilities and returned home; and the Athenians, thinking no one worthy to succeed Oodrus, abolished the kingly dignity, and instituted in its stead the office of archon. Medon, son of Codrus, was the first archon.