Erichthonius (;
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
: Ἐριχθόνιος) of
Dardania was a mythical king of
Dardanus in
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...
. He was the son of
Dardanus and
Batea (in some other legends his mother is said to be,
Olizone, daughter of
Phineus
In Greek mythology, Phineus (; Ancient Greek: Φινεύς, ) or Phineas, was a king of Salmydessus in Thrace and seer, who appears in accounts of the Argonauts' voyage. Some accounts make him a king in PaphlagoniaScholia on Apollonius of Rhod ...
). He was the brother of
Ilus
In Greek mythology, Ilus (; ) is the name of several mythological persons associated directly or indirectly with Troy.
* Ilus, the son of Dardanus, and the legendary founder of Dardania.
* Ilus, the son of Tros, and the legendary founder of Troy ...
and
Zacynthus
Zakynthos (also spelled Zakinthos; el, Ζάκυνθος, Zákynthos ; it, Zacinto ) or Zante (, , ; el, Τζάντε, Tzánte ; from the Venetian form) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands. Zak ...
. Erichthonius was said to have enjoyed a peaceful and prosperous reign.
Etymology
Erichthonius is of uncertain etymology, possibly related to a pre-Greek form *''Erekt
yeu-''. The connection of Ἐριχθόνιος with ἐρέχθω, "shake" is a late folk-etymology; other folk-etymologies include ἔριον, ''erion'', "wool" or ''eris'', "strife"+ χθών ''chthôn or chthonos'', "earth".
Mythology
Fundamentally, all that is known of this Erichthonius comes from
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
, who says (
Samuel Butler's translation of ''
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...
'
20.215-234!--Berlin mirror; update to main Perseus when it works-->):
: In the beginning Dardanos was the son of
Zeus
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...
, and founded Dardania, for
Ilion was not yet established on the plain for men to dwell in, and her people still abode on the spurs of many-fountained
Ida. Dardanos had a son, king Erichthonios, who was wealthiest of all men living; he had three thousand mares that fed by the water-meadows, they and their foals with them.
Boreas was enamored of them as they were feeding, and covered them in the semblance of a dark-maned stallion. Twelve filly foals did they conceive and bear him, and these, as they sped over the fertile plain, would go bounding on over the ripe ears of wheat and not break them; or again when they would disport themselves on the broad back of Ocean they could gallop on the crest of a breaker. Erichthonios begat
Tros
Tros or TROS may refer to:
* 18281 Tros, an asteroid
* Transformer read-only storage, a type of read-only memory
* TROS, a Dutch broadcasting union, originally an acronym for Televisie Radio Omroep Stichting
* Tros (mythology)
In Greek mytholo ...
, king of the Trojans, and Tros had three noble sons,
Ilos
In Greek mythology, Ilus (; ) is the name of several mythological persons associated directly or indirectly with Troy.
* Ilus, the son of Dardanus, and the legendary founder of Dardania.
*Ilus, the son of Tros, and the legendary founder of Troy.
...
,
Assarakos, and
Ganymede who was comeliest of mortal men; wherefore the gods carried him off to be Zeus' cupbearer, for his beauty's sake, that he might dwell among the immortals.
John Tzetzes and one of the
scholia
Scholia (singular scholium or scholion, from grc, σχόλιον, "comment, interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of t ...
to
Lycophron call his wife
Astyoche The name Astyoche (; Ancient Greek: Ἀστυόχη means 'possessor of the city') or Astyocheia was attributed to the following individuals in Greek mythology:
*Astyoche, naiad daughter of the river god Simoeis, mother of Tros by Erichthonius ...
, the
naiad daughter of the
river-god
A water deity is a deity in mythology associated with water or various bodies of water. Water deities are common in mythology and were usually more important among civilizations in which the sea or ocean, or a great river was more important. Ano ...
Simoeis
Simoeis or Simois ( grc, Σιμόεις ''Simóeis'') was a river of the Trojan plain, now called the Dümruk Su (Dümrek Çayı), and the name of its god in Greek mythology.
River
The Simoeis was a small river of the ancient Troad, having its ...
. The ''
Bibliotheca'' also adds Erichthonius' older brother
Ilus
In Greek mythology, Ilus (; ) is the name of several mythological persons associated directly or indirectly with Troy.
* Ilus, the son of Dardanus, and the legendary founder of Dardania.
* Ilus, the son of Tros, and the legendary founder of Troy ...
, who died young and childless; presumably a doublet of the other Ilus, grandson of Erichthonius, eponym of Troy. In one account, Erichthonius was said to be the father of Ganymede.
Strabo records, but discounts, the claim by "some more recent writers" that
Teucer
In Greek mythology, Teucer (), also Teucrus, Teucros or Teucris ( grc, Τεῦκρος, Teûkros), was the son of King Telamon of Salamis Island and his second wife Hesione, daughter of King Laomedon of Troy. He fought alongside his half-bro ...
came from the
deme
In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside seem to have existed in the 6th century BC and ear ...
of
Xypeteones in
Attica
Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean S ...
, supposedly called ''Troes'' (meaning Trojans) in mythical times.
[ Strabo, 13.1.48] These writers mentioned that
Erichthonius appears as founder both in Attica and the Troad, and may be identifying the two.
Erichthonius reigned for forty six or, according to others, sixty five years and was succeeded by his son
Tros
Tros or TROS may refer to:
* 18281 Tros, an asteroid
* Transformer read-only storage, a type of read-only memory
* TROS, a Dutch broadcasting union, originally an acronym for Televisie Radio Omroep Stichting
* Tros (mythology)
In Greek mytholo ...
.
Family tree
Notes
References
*
Apollodorus, ''The Library'' with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
* Beekes, S. P., ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', 2 vols. Leiden: Brill, 2009.
*Dictys Cretensis
Dictys Cretensis, i.e. Dictys of Crete (, ; grc, Δίκτυς ὁ Κρής) of Knossos was a legendary companion of Idomeneus during the Trojan War, and the purported author of a diary of its events, that deployed some of the same materials worke ...
'', 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
* Gaius Julius Hyginus, ''Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* Graves, Robert; ''The Greek Myths
''The Greek Myths'' (1955) is a mythography, a compendium of Greek mythology, with comments and analyses, by the poet and writer Robert Graves. Many editions of the book separate it into two volumes. Abridged editions of the work contain only the ...
'', Moyer Bell Ltd; Unabridged edition (December 1988), .
Greek Mythology Link 2003-10-01
*March, J., ''Cassell's Dictionary Of Classical Mythology'', London, 1999.
*Notes to the '' Bibliotheca'
3.12.2
ed. by. Sir James George Frazer.
*Perseus Encyclopedia
Erichthonius
* Strabo, '' The Geography of Strabo.'' Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
*Strabo, ''Geographica'' edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erichthonius Of Dardania
Princes in Greek mythology
Mythological kings of Troy
Kings in Greek mythology
Trojans