Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Ilus (;

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: Ἶλος ''Ilos'') was the founder of the city called '' Ilios'' or ''Ilion'' ( Latinized as ''Ilium'') to which he gave his name. When the latter became the chief city of the Trojan people it was also often called ''

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

'', the name by which it is best known today. In some accounts, Ilus was described to have a plume of horsehair.

Family

Ilus was son and heir to King Tros of DardaniaDiodorus Siculus
4.75.3
Quintus Smyrnaeus
2.182-207
''Oxyrhynchus Papyri,'' 1359 fr. 2 as cited in Hesiod, '' Ehoiai'
fr. 102

Suida The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; ; ) is a large 10th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine encyclopedia of the History of the Mediterranean region, ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas () or Souidas (). It is an ...

, s.v.
Minos
' and Callirhoe, naiad daughter of the river-god Scamander or Acallaris, daughter of Eumedes. Dionysius of Halicarnassus
''Antiquitates Romanae'' 1.62.2
/ref> He was the brother of Assaracus, Ovid, '' Metamorphoses'
11.756
/ref> Ganymede,

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

and possibly, Cleomestra. Dictys Cretensis
4.22
/ref> Ilus was the father of Laomedon by his wife, named either Eurydice (daughter of Adrastus), Leucippe or Batia, daughter of

Teucer In Greek mythology, Teucer (; , also Teucrus, Teucros or Teucris), 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-brother, Ajax the Great, Ajax, in the ...

. Other children of Ilus include two daughters, Themiste (or Themis) and Telecleia, who married Capys and Cisseus, respectively. In some accounts, Ilus was the father of Tithonus and Ganymede.

Mythology

Foundation of Ilium

During his youth, Ilus went to

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; , ''Phrygía'') was a kingdom in the west-central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. Stories of the heroic age of Greek mythology tell of several legendary Ph ...

and taking part in games that at the time were held by the local king, he won victory in a wrestling match. As a prize he received fifty youths and as many maidens; and the king, on the advice of an oracle, gave him also a dappled cow and asked him to found a city wherever the cow should lie down. This took place when the cow came to the hill of Atë, and in that spot Ilus built the city which he called Ilium.

Palladium

Then Ilus prayed to

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

that a sign might be shown to him, and at once he saw the Palladium fallen from heaven and lying before his tent. This wooden statue was three cubits high, its feet joined; in its right hand it held a spear aloft, and in the other hand a distaff and spindle. But Ilus was immediately blinded, since the Palladium was not to be looked upon by any man. Later on, when he had made offerings to the goddess

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

, he recovered his sight. Grateful for this sign, Ilus decided to give this image a place of honor in the temple as a clear sign of Zeus's consent to the construction of the city. This is how Ilus first laid foundations to the city that would later become famous under the name Troy. According to '' Dictys Cretensis'', the image fell from heaven at the time when Ilus was building the temple of Athena; the structure was nearly completed, but the roof was not yet on, so the Palladium dropped straight into its proper place in the sacred edifice.

Clement of Alexandria Titus Flavius Clemens, also known as Clement of Alexandria (; – ), was a Christian theology, Christian theologian and philosopher who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen and Alexander of Jerusalem. A ...

mentioned a strange opinion that the Palladium "was made out of the bones of Pelops, just as the Olympian (image of Zeus was made) out of other bones of an Indian beast," that is, out of ivory.

Reign

Ilus preferred his new city of Ilium to Dardania and on his father's death he remained there, bestowing the rule of Dardania on his brother Assaracus instead, and so the Trojans were split into two kingdoms. After his death, his son Laomedon succeeded him on the throne and became the king of Troy. As a godly man, Ilus was terribly annoyed by the misconduct of Tantalus and expelled him from

Paphlagonia Paphlagonia (; , modern translit. ''Paflagonía''; ) was an ancient region on the Black Sea coast of north-central Anatolia, situated between Bithynia to the west and Pontus (region), Pontus to the east, and separated from Phrygia (later, Galatia ...

, after Tantalus had incurred the enmity of the gods. Because of this action, Pelops later on advanced to

Lydia Lydia (; ) was an Iron Age Monarchy, kingdom situated in western Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey. Later, it became an important province of the Achaemenid Empire and then the Roman Empire. Its capital was Sardis. At some point before 800 BC, ...

and there a violent battle between Ilus and Pelops. But Ilus managed to win the victory with great odds and chased Pelops out of the country. In some myths, Ilus defeated in battle the king of the Bebrykes, named Byzos, and raised Ilion up greatly.

Death

After the death of Ilus, the Trojans built a large burial mound for him in front of the gates of his city. Valerius Flaccus
2.580
Dictys Cretensis
4.1
/ref>

Genealogy

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
* Conon'', Fifty Narrations, surviving as one-paragraph summaries in the Bibliotheca (Library) of Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople'' translated from the Greek by Brady Kiesling
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* 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.
* Diodorus Siculus, ''The Library of History'' translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes.

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a monographic series of books originally published by Heinemann and since 1934 by Harvard University Press. It has bilingual editions of ancient Greek and Latin literature, ...

. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8
Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
* Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2''. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* 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.
* Gaius Valerius Flaccus, ''Argonautica'' translated by Mozley, J H. Loeb Classical Library Volume 286. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1928
Online version at theio.com.
* Gaius Valerius Flaccus, ''Argonauticon.'' Otto Kramer. Leipzig. Teubner. 1913
Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
* Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, ''Moralia'' Translated from the Greek by several hands. Corrected and revised by. William W. Goodwin, Ph.D. Boston. Little, Brown, and Company. Cambridge. Press Of John Wilson and son. 1874. 5
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
* Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals. * Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. {{ISBN, 0-674-99328-4
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Fasti'' translated by James G. Frazer
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Fasti.'' Sir James George Frazer. London; Cambridge, MA. William Heinemann Ltd.; Harvard University Press. 1933
Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Metamorphoses'' translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
* Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Metamorphoses.'' Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892
Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Publius Vergilius Maro, ''Aeneid.'' Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
* Publius Vergilius Maro, ''Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics''. J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900
Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Quintus Smyrnaeus, ''The Fall of Troy'' translated by Way. A. S. Loeb Classical Library Volume 19. London: William Heinemann, 1913
Online version at theio.com
* Quintus Smyrnaeus, ''The Fall of Troy''. Arthur S. Way. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1913
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Tzetzes, John, ''Lycophronis Alexandra. Vol. II: Scholia Continens'', edited by Eduard Scheer, Berlin, Weidmann, 1881
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