Dardanus (son of Zeus)

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Dardanus
Eponymous king of Dardania
Member of the Dardanian Royal Family
PredecessorTeucer
SuccessorErichthonius or Ilus I
Abode(1) Arcadia, then Samothrace and Troad or
(2) Hesperia (or Italy), then Troad
Personal information
Parents(1) Zeus and Electra
(2) Corythus and Electra
Siblings(1) & (2) Iasion (or Iasus or Eetion), Harmonia and (1) Emathion
Consort(i) Chryse
(ii) Olizone
(iii) Batea or Arisbe
Children(i) Idaeus and Deimas
(ii) & (iii) Erichthonius
(iii) Ilus I, Idaea and Zacynthus

In Greek mythology, Dardanus (/ˈdɑːrdənəs/; Ancient Greek: Δάρδανος,[1] Dardanos) was the founder of the city of Dardanus at the foot of Mount Ida in the Troad.

Dardanus, a son of Zeus and the Pleiad Electra, was a significant figure in Greek mythology. He was the brother of Iasion and sometimes of Harmonia and Emathion. Originally from Arcadia, Dardanus married Chryse, with whom he fathered two sons, Idaeus and Deimas. After a great flood, Dardanus and his people settled in Samothrace before eventually moving to Asia Minor due to the land's poor quality. In Virgil's Aeneid, Dardanus is said to have originally come from Italy, where his mother Electra was married to Corythus, the king of Tarquinia.

Dardanus later married Batea, the daughter of King Teucer, and founded the city of Dardanus on Mount Ida, which became the capital of his kingdom. He also founded the city of Thymbra and expanded his kingdom by waging successful wars against his neighbors. Dardanus had several children with Batea, including Ilus, Erichthonius, Idaea, and Zacynthus. He reigned for 64 or 65 years before being succeeded by his son Erichthonius or, in some accounts, Ilus.

Dardanus has been the subject of various operas by composers such as Jean-Philippe Rameau, Carl Stamitz, and Antonio Sacchini.

Family

Dardanus was a son of Zeus and the Pleiad Electra,[2] daughter of Atlas but one author claims that his real father was the Corythus, an Italian king.[3] He was the brother of Iasion and sometimes of Harmonia and Emathion.

Mythology

Asia Minor
.

A different account in

Penates that "Dardanus and Father Iasius" and the Penates themselves originally came from Hesperia, afterwards renamed as Italy. This tradition holds that Dardanus was a Tyrrhenian prince, and that his mother Electra was married to Corythus, king of Tarquinia.[6]

Other accounts make no mention of Arcadia or Hesperia, though they sometimes mention a flood and speak of Dardanus sailing on a hide-raft (as part of the flood story?) from

Batea the daughter of Teucer. (Dionysius mentions that Dardanus' first wife Chryse had died.) Dardanus received land on Mount Ida from his father-in-law. There Dardanus founded the city of Dardanus which became the capital of his kingdom.[5] He later founded the city of Thymbra in honor of his friend Thymbraeus, who is said to have been killed by Dardanus. Dardanus waged war successfully against his neighbors, especially distinguishing himself against the Paphlagonians
and thereby extending the boundaries of his kingdom with considerable acquisitions.

The strait of the Dardanelles (yellow) takes its name from Dardanus.

Dardanus' children by Batea were

Zacynthus.[8] Dardanus' sons by Chryse, his first wife, were Idaeus and Dimas. Dionysius says (1.61.4) that Dimas and Idaeus founded colonies in Asia Minor. Idaeus gave his name to the Idaean mountains, that is Mount Ida, where he built a temple to the Mother of the Gods (Cybele) and instituted mysteries and ceremonies still observed in Phrygia in Dionysius's time. According to Dictys Cretensis, his wife was called Olizone, daughter of Phineus and became the mother of Erichthonius.[9] In other accounts, the wife of Dardanus was called Arisbe, daughter of King Teucer of Crete[10] or King Macareus of Lesbos.[11]

Dardanus reigned for 64 or 65 years and was succeeded by his son Erichthonius or in some accounts, Ilus.

Cultural depictions

There are

(1784).

Family tree

Notes

  1. ^ The name is traditionally associated with δαρδάπτω (dardapto) "to wear, to slay, to burn up"
  2. Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 3.167, 7.207, 10.719
  3. ^ Lactantius, Divine Institutes 1.23 "But according to some authorities, Dardanus and Iasius were sons of Coritus, not of Jupiter. For if it had been so, Jupiter could not have formed that unchaste connection with Ganymede, his own descendant."
  4. , p.358
  5. ^ a b c Pseudo-Scymnos, Circuit de la terre 535 ff.
  6. ^ Virgil, Aeneid 7.195-242; 8. 596 ss.; 9. 10; Servio ad Vergilium, Aeneidos 9.10
  7. ^ Pausanias, 8.24.3
  8. ^ Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae 1.50.3.
  9. ^ Dictys Cretensis, Trojan War Chronicle 3.5 & 4.22
  10. Tzetzes on Lycophron
    , 1298
  11. ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Arisbe

References