Achilles Xanthos Simoeis Couder decoration Louvre INV3379

Scamander (; also Skamandros ( grc, Σκάμανδρος) or Xanthos () was a river god in Greek mythology.

Etymology

The meaning of this name is uncertain. The second element looks like it is derived from Greek () meaning 'of a man', but there are sources who doubt this. The first element is more difficult to pinpoint; it could be derived from () 'to limp, to stumble (over an obstacle)' or from () meaning 'left(-handed), awkward'. The meaning of the name might then perhaps be 'limping man' or 'awkward man'. This would refer to the many bends and winds (meanders) of the river, which does not run straight, but "limps" its way along.

Geography

The Scamander River was named after the river god Scamander. The Scamander River was the river that surrounded Troy. The god Scamander took the side of the Trojans in the Trojan War.

Family

According to

Hesiod Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...

, Scamander is the son of

Oceanus In Greek mythology, Oceanus (; grc-gre, , Ancient Greek pronunciation: , also Ὠγενός , Ὤγενος , or Ὠγήν ) was a Titan son of Uranus and Gaia, the husband of his sister the Titan Tethys, and the father of the river gods a ...

and Tethys. He is alternately described as a son of Zeus. He was the father of King Teucer, whose mother was the water nymph Idaea. He was also mentioned as the father of Glaucia, lover of Deimachus. Xanthus was credited to be the father of Eurythemista who bore Pelops and Niobe to Tantalus. Strymo or Rhoeo, wife of Laomedon, king of Troy was also called his daughter.

Mythology

Scamander fought on the side of the Trojans during the Trojan War ('' Iliad'' XX, 73/74; XXI), after the Greek hero Achilles insulted him. Scamander was also said to have attempted to kill Achilles three times, and the hero was only saved due to the intervention of

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; grc-gre, Ἥρα, Hḗrā; grc, Ἥρη, Hḗrē, label=none in Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she ...

, Athena and Hephaestus. In this context, he is the personification of the Scamander River that flowed from

Mount Ida In Greek mythology, two sacred mountains are called Mount Ida, the "Mountain of the Goddess": Mount Ida in Crete, and Mount Ida in the ancient Troad region of western Anatolia (in modern-day Turkey), which was also known as the '' Phrygian Ida'' ...

across the plain beneath the city of Troy, joining the

Hellespont The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...

north of the city. The Achaeans, according to Homer, had set up their camp near its mouth, and their battles with the Trojans were fought on the plain of Scamander. In Iliad XXII (149ff), Homer states that the river had two springs: one produced warm water; the other yielded cold water, regardless of the season. According to Homer, he was called Xanthos by gods and Scamander by men, which might indicate that the former name refers to the god and the latter one to the river itself. Homer, '' Iliad'
20.7421.146

Trojan descendants

Notes

References

, '' Theogony'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Homer, ''The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Tsotakou-Karveli. ''Lexicon of Greek Mythology''. Athens: Sokoli, 1990. {{Authority control Potamoi Deities in the Iliad Anatolia Children of Zeus