| Dardanus | |
|---|---|
Eponymous king ofDardania | |
| Member of the Dardanian Royal Family | |
| Predecessor | Teucer |
| Successor | Erichthonius orIlus I |
| Abode | (1)Arcadia, thenSamothrace andTroad or (2)Hesperia (orItaly), then Troad |
| Genealogy | |
| Parents | (1)Zeus andElectra (2)Corythus and Electra |
| Siblings | (1) & (2)Iasion (orIasus orEetion),Harmonia and (1)Emathion |
| Consort | (i)Chryse (ii)Olizone (iii)Batea orArisbe |
| Children | (i)Idaeus andDeimas (ii) & (iii) Erichthonius (iii) Ilus I,Idaea andZacynthus |
InGreek mythology,Dardanus (/ˈdɑːrdənəs/;Ancient Greek: Δάρδανος,[1]Dardanos) was the founder of the city ofDardanus at the foot ofMount Ida in theTroad.
Dardanus, a son of Zeus and thePleiad Electra, was a significant figure in Greek mythology. He was the brother of Iasion and sometimes of Harmonia and Emathion. Originally fromArcadia, Dardanus marriedChryse, with whom he fathered two sons, Idaeus and Deimas. After a great flood, Dardanus and his people settled on the island ofSamothrace before eventually moving toAsia Minor due to the land's poor quality. In Virgil'sAeneid, 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 asJean-Philippe Rameau,Carl Stamitz, andAntonio Sacchini.
Dardanus was a son ofZeus and thePleiadElectra,[2] daughter ofAtlas but one author claims that his real father was theCorythus, an Italian king.[3] He was the brother ofIasion[4] and sometimes ofHarmonia[4] andEmathion.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus (1.61–62) states that Dardanus' original home was in Arcadia, where Dardanus and his elder brotherIasus (elsewhere more commonly called Iasion) reigned as kings following Atlas. Dardanus married Chryse, daughter of Pallas (son of Lycaon),[5] by whom he fathered two sons:Idaeus andDeimas. When agreat flood occurred, the survivors, who were living on mountains that had now become islands, split into two groups: one group remained and took Deimas as king while the other sailed away, eventually settling in the island of Samothrace. There Iasus (Iasion) was slain byZeus for lying withDemeter.[6] Dardanus and his people found the land poor and so most of them set sail forAsia Minor.
A different account inVirgil'sAeneid (3.163f) has Aeneas in a dream learn from his ancestralPenates that "Dardanus and Father Iasius" and the Penates themselves originally came from Hesperia, afterwards renamed asItaly. This tradition holds that Dardanus was aTyrrhenian prince, and that his mother Electra was married to Corythus, king ofTarquinia.[7]
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?) fromSamothrace to theTroad nearAbydos. All accounts agree that Dardanus came to the Troad from Samothrace[6] and was there welcomed byKing Teucer. Dardanus marriedBatea the daughter of Teucer. (Dionysius mentions that Dardanus' first wife Chryse had died.) Dardanus received land onMount Ida from his father-in-law. There Dardanus founded the city ofDardanus which became the capital of his kingdom.[6] He later founded the city ofThymbra in honor of his friendThymbraeus, who is said to have been killed by Dardanus. Dardanus waged war successfully against his neighbors, especially distinguishing himself against thePaphlagonians and thereby extending the boundaries of his kingdom with considerable acquisitions.
Dardanus' children by Batea wereIlus,Erichthonius,Idaea[according to whom?] andZacynthus.[8] Ilus died before his father. According toDionysius of Halicarnassus, Zacynthus was the first settler on the island afterwards calledZacynthus.[9] 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 isMount Ida, where he built a temple to the Mother of the Gods (Cybele) and instituted mysteries and ceremonies still observed inPhrygia in Dionysius's time. According toDictys Cretensis, his wife was calledOlizone, daughter of Phineus and became the mother ofErichthonius.[10] In other accounts, the wife of Dardanus was calledArisbe, daughter of King Teucer ofCrete[11] or KingMacareus ofLesbos.[12]
Dardanus reigned for 64 or 65 years and was succeeded by his son Erichthonius or in some accounts, Ilus.
There areoperas on the subject of Dardanus byJean-Philippe Rameau (1739),Carl Stamitz (1770) andAntonio Sacchini (1784).
