Troy, Greek Mythology Link. (original) (raw)

Troy is a Phrygian city in northwestern Asia Minor in the region called the Troad, and Trojan are called its citizens. Otherwise this town has also been called Ilium, Ilion or Ilios. At the time of the Trojan War Troy was a well-walled city with broad streets and beautiful palaces. Many Asian allies, among which the Ascanians, theAMAZONS, the Lycians and the Eastern Ethiopians, came with their armies to help the besieged city.
Troy, about 1000 years before its destruction by the troops ofAgamemnon
Emigration of Dardanus 1.	Dardanus 1, son of Zeus and the Pleiad Electra 3 lived in Samothrace, but when his brother Iasion [seeDemeter], who was among the most handsome, was killed byZeus with a thunderbolt, as some say, because of his love affair withDemeter, he left the island and coming to the opposite mainland he settled in the territory, which at the time was ruled by Teucer 2. Some say that this emigration took place because life in Samothrace, with its poor soil and boisterous sea, was hard for Dardanus 1 and his people. So sailing from the island he came to the strait called the Hellespont, and settled in the region which afterwards was calledPhrygia.
The Teucrians.	Teucer 2, son of the River God Scamander 1 and the Nymph Idaea 1 was then king of that country and the people were called Teucrians after him. King Teucer 2 welcomed the foreigner and gave him his daughter Batia 1 as wife and, along with her, a share of his land. Those who are interested in proving that the Trojans were Greek say that Teucer 2 had himself emigrated from Attica, and that the reason why he received Dardanus 1 with generous hospitality is that he was glad to see arrive new Greek colonists to this land which had but a small native population, and that he believed Dardanus 1 would assist him in his wars against the barbarians.
Dardania.	Dardanus 1 founded a city in the region that later was called the Troad and lived there with his family until the death of his father-in-law, upon which he became king of the whole land and called it Dardania after himself.
Family of Dardanus 1.	According to some Batia 1 was Dardanus 1's second wife, whom he married after the death of his first wife Chryse 3. His sons by her were Idaeus 4 and Deimas. The latter stayed inArcadia, whence they come from (as it is said thatAtlas was king ofArcadia), but Idaeus 4 emigrated with Dardanus 1, first to Samothrace and later to Phrygia, where Mount Ida was called after him
Erichthonius 1 and Tros 1.	When Dardanus 1 died, his son Erichthonius 1 became King of the Dardanians and, as they say, the richest of men, as he inherited both the kingdom of his father and that of his maternal grandfather. Erichthonius 1 married Astyoche 3, daughter of the River God Simois, or as others say, Callirrhoe 3, a sister of Teucer 2. By one of them he had a son Tros 1 who, after coming to the throne, called the people Trojans and the land Troad after himself. According to some it was Tros 1 who married Callirrhoe 3, but some say he married Acallaris, daughter of Eumedes 6.
The founder of Troy.	At this point Ilus 2, son of Tros 1, founded the city of Ilium (Troy) that he called after himself. Ilus 2 went to Phrygia, and taking part in games that at the time were held by the king, he won victory in wrestling. As a prize he received fifty youths and as many maidens, and the king, obeying an oracle, gave him also a 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 Ate, and in that spot Ilus 2 built the city which he called Ilium. Then he prayed toZeus that a sign might be shown to him and he saw thePalladium, fallen from heaven and lying before his tent. Ilus 2 was blinded, for thePalladium might not be looked upon by any man. But later, when he had made offerings to the goddess, he recovered his sight.
Division of the kingdom.	In this way the kingdom of Dardanus 1 and Erichthonius 1 was divided, because while Ilus 2 became king of Ilium (Troy), his brother Assaracus continued to be king of the Dardanians.
Tricky Laomedon 1.	According to some Ilus 2's wife was Eurydice 6, and according to others Leucippe 5. By either of them Ilus 2 had a son Laomedon 1, who became king of Troy after him. When Laomedon 1 was king of TroyApollo andPoseidon decided to put him to the test and, assuming the likeness of mortal men, undertook to fortify Troy for wages. But when the work was done, King Laomedon 1 would not pay their wages. SoApollo sent a pestilence, and Poseidon sent a sea-monster, which snatched away the people of the plain. The oracles foretold deliverance from these calamities if King Laomedon 1 would expose his daughter Hesione 2 to be devoured by the sea-monster. So he, more obedient of this oracle than of his agreement with the gods, exposed Hesione 2 to the monster by fastening her to the rocks near the sea. WhenHeracles 1 saw her exposed, he promised to save her on condition of receiving from Laomedon 1 the mares whichZeus had given in compensation for the rape ofGanymedes. Once again Laomedon 1 promised to pay for the service andHeracles 1 killed the monster and saved Hesione 2. But when this was done Laomedon 1 would not give the agreed reward.
First war against Troy.	For this reasonHeracles 1 made war on Troy one generation before the well knownTrojan War. This attack on Troy Heracles 1 did it in conjunction with Telamon, father ofAjax 1, among others. For this expedition Heracles 1 deployed eighteen ships with fifty oars each, that is an insignificant fleet compared with the one which sailed against Troy one generation after [see ACHAEAN LEADERS for details about this fleet]. After some fight the town was besieged and shortly after Telamon, who was the first to breach in the wall, entered the city and after him cameHeracles 1.Heracles 1 killed King Laomedon 1 and his sons except for young Priam 1, who became then king of Troy. The king's daughterHesione 2 was given to Telamon as a prize. Hesione 2 is mother then of Teucer 1, called Telamon's bastard son, who became leader of the Salaminians against Troy one generation after.
Second war against Troy.	[For the causes and development of this war seeTrojan War].
Survival of the House of Dardanus 1.	In Dardania Assaracus was succeeded in the throne by his son Capys 1, who towards the end of the Trojan War is said to have recommended throwing theWOODEN HORSE into the sea. Capys 1 is father ofAnchises 1, who is father of Aeneas, leader of the Dardanians during theTrojan War, known for his courage and his piety, and the one who was destined to survive and to save the House of Dardanus 1 from extinction. ForAeneas, escaping from the flames of the sacked Troy, emigrated to Italy and there founded a kingdom which in time gave birth to Rome.