Dardanus (son of Zeus)
Dardanus | |
---|---|
Eponymous king of Dardania | |
Member of the Dardanian Royal Family | |
Predecessor | Teucer |
Successor | Erichthonius 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
A different account in
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
Dardanus' children by Batea were
Dardanus reigned for 64 or 65 years and was succeeded by his son Erichthonius or in some accounts, Ilus.
Cultural depictions
There are
Family tree
Notes
- ^ The name is traditionally associated with δαρδάπτω (dardapto) "to wear, to slay, to burn up"
- ^ 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."
- ISBN 0-14-017199-1, p.358
- ^ a b c Pseudo-Scymnos, Circuit de la terre 535 ff.
- ^ Virgil, Aeneid 7.195-242; 8. 596 ss.; 9. 10; Servio ad Vergilium, Aeneidos 9.10
- ^ Pausanias, 8.24.3
- ^ Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae 1.50.3.
- ^ Dictys Cretensis, Trojan War Chronicle 3.5 & 4.22
- Tzetzes on Lycophron, 1298
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Arisbe
References
- Dictys Cretensis, from The Trojan War. The Chronicles of Dictys of Crete and Dares the Phrygian translated by Richard McIlwaine Frazer Jr. (1931-). Indiana University Press. 1966. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Dionysus of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities. English translation by Earnest Cary in the Loeb Classical Library, 7 volumes. Harvard University Press, 1937–1950. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitatum Romanarum quae supersunt, Vol I-IV. . Karl Jacoby. In Aedibus B.G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1885. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Lactantius, Divine Institutes, Translated by William Fletcher (1810–1900). From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886.) Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Stephanus of Byzantium, Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt, edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling. Online version at the Topos Text Project.