[5] Bellerophon came to Troezen to ask Aethra's father, Pittheus, for the maiden's hand in marriage, but the hero was banished from Corinth before the nuptials took place.

[6] King Aegeus who was childless with his previous marriages went to Troezen, a city southwest of Athens that had as its patrons Athena and Poseidon.

Following the instructions of Athena in a dream, she left the sleeping Aegeus and waded across to the island of Sphairia that lay close to Troezen's shore.

Aethra did as she was told, and Theseus, recovering the weapons that were his birthright, grew to be a great hero, killing the Minotaur, among other adventures.

[15] With significant alterations to the character, a version of this Aethra appears (as "Aithra"), a sorceress and concubine of Poseidon, in Richard Strauss's famous opera Die ägyptische Helena (The Egyptian Helen).