Editing Dardanus (son of Zeus)

{{Short description|Greek mythological figure}}
{{Other uses|Dardanus (Greek myth)}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Dardanus
| abode = (1) [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]], then [[Samothrace]] and [[Troad]] or<br>(2) [[Hesperia (mythology)|Hesperia]] (or [[Italy]]), then Troad
| parents = (1) [[Zeus]] and [[Electra (Pleiad)|Electra]]<br>(2) [[Corythus]] and Electra
| siblings = (1) & (2) [[Iasion]] (or [[Iasus]] or [[Eetion (mythology)|Eetion]]), [[Harmonia]] and (1) [[Emathion]]
| children = (i) [[Idaeus]] and [[Deimas]]<br>(ii) & (iii) Erichthonius<br>(iii) Ilus I, [[Idaea (wife of Phineus)|Idaea]] and [[Zacynthus (mythology)|Zacynthus]]
| mount = 
| deity_of = Eponymous king of [[Dardanus (city)|Dardania]]
| member_of = the Dardanian Royal Family
| other_names = 
| consort = (i) [[Chryse (mythology)|Chryse]]<br>(ii) [[Olizone]]<br>(iii) [[Batea of Troad|Batea]] or [[Arisbe (mythology)|Arisbe]]
| image = 
| caption = 
| successor = [[Erichthonius of Dardania|Erichthonius]] or [[Ilus (son of Dardanus)|Ilus I]]
| predecessor = [[King Teucer|Teucer]]
}}

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Dardanus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ɑr|d|ən|ə|s}}; [[Ancient Greek]]: Δάρδανος,<ref>The name is [[Folk etymology|traditionally]] associated with δαρδάπτω (''dardapto'') "to wear, to slay, to burn up"</ref> ''Dardanos'') was the founder of the city of [[Dardanus (city)|Dardanus]] at the foot of [[Mount Ida]] in the [[Troad]].

Dardanus, a son of Zeus and the [[Electra (Pleiad)|Pleiad Electra]], was a significant figure in Greek mythology. He was the brother of Iasion and sometimes of Harmonia and Emathion. Originally from [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]], Dardanus married [[Pallas (son of Lycaon)|Chryse]], with whom he fathered two sons, Idaeus and Deimas. After a great flood, Dardanus and his people settled on the island of [[Samothrace]] before eventually moving to [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]] due to the land's poor quality. In Virgil's ''[[Aeneid]]'', 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 as [[Jean-Philippe Rameau]], [[Carl Stamitz]], and [[Antonio Sacchini]].

== Family ==
Dardanus was a son of [[Zeus]] and the [[Pleiades (Greek mythology)|Pleiad]] [[Electra (Pleiad)|Electra]],<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#155 155] & [https://topostext.org/work/206#275 275]'';''  [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#48.2 5.48.2]; [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], ''Commentary on [[Virgil]]'s [[Aeneid]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Serv.+A.+3.167&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053 3.167], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Serv.+A.+7.207&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053 7.207], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Serv.+A.+10.719&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053 10.719]</ref> daughter of [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]] but one author claims that his real father was the [[Corythus]], an Italian king.<ref>[[Lactantius]], ''[[The Divine Institutes|Divine Institutes]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/543#1.23 1.23] "But according to some authorities, Dardanus and Iasius were sons of Coritus, not of Jupiter. For if it had been so, Jupiter could not have formed that unchaste connection with Ganymede, his own descendant."</ref> He was the brother of [[Iasion]]<ref name=":1">[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#48.2 5.48.2]</ref> and sometimes of [[Harmonia]]<ref name=":1" /> and [[Emathion]].

== Mythology ==
[[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] (1.61–62) states that Dardanus' original home was in Arcadia, where Dardanus and his elder brother [[Iasus]] (elsewhere more commonly called Iasion) reigned as kings following Atlas. Dardanus married Chryse, daughter of Pallas (son of Lycaon),<ref>Graves, Robert. ''The Greek Myths'', {{ISBN|0-14-017199-1}}, p.358</ref> by whom he fathered two sons: [[Idaeus]] and [[Deimas]]. When a [[deluge (mythology)|great 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 by [[Zeus]] for lying with [[Demeter]].<ref name=":0">[[Pseudo-Scymnus|Pseudo-Scymnos]], ''Circuit de la terre'' 535 ff.</ref> Dardanus and his people found the land poor and so most of them set sail for [[Asia Minor]].

A different account in [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'' (3.163f) has Aeneas in a dream learn from his ancestral [[Penates]] that "Dardanus and Father Iasius" and the Penates themselves originally came from Hesperia, afterwards renamed as [[Italy]].  This tradition holds that Dardanus was a [[Tyrrhenians|Tyrrhenian]] prince, and that his mother Electra was married to Corythus, king of [[Tarquinia]].<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' 7.195-242; 8. 596 ss.; 9. 10; Servio ad Vergilium, ''Aeneidos'' 9.10</ref>

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?) from [[Samothrace]] to the [[Troad]] near [[Abydos, Hellespont|Abydos]]. All accounts agree that Dardanus came to the Troad from Samothrace<ref name=":0" /> and was there welcomed by [[King Teucer]]. Dardanus married [[Batea (daughter of Teucer)|Batea]] the daughter of Teucer. (Dionysius mentions that Dardanus' first wife Chryse had died.) Dardanus received land on [[Mount Ida]] from his father-in-law. There Dardanus founded the city of [[Dardanus (city)|Dardanus]] which became the capital of his kingdom.<ref name=":0" /> He later founded the city of [[Thymbra]] in honor of his friend [[Thymbraeus (mythology)|Thymbraeus]], who is said to have been killed by Dardanus. Dardanus waged war successfully against his neighbors, especially distinguishing himself against the [[Paphlagonia|Paphlagonians]] and thereby extending the boundaries of his kingdom with considerable acquisitions.

[[File:Turkish Strait disambig.svg|thumb|right|200px|The strait of the [[Dardanelles]] (yellow) takes its name from [[Dardanus (city)|Dardanus]].]]

Dardanus' children by Batea were [[Ilus (son of Dardanus)|Ilus]], [[Erichthonius (son of Dardanus)|Erichthonius]], [[Idaea]]{{according to whom|date=October 2018}} and [[Zakynthos (mythology)|Zacynthus]].<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.24.3&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 8.24.3]</ref> Ilus died before his father.  According to [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]], Zacynthus was the first settler on the island afterwards called [[Zacynthus]].<ref>[[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]], ''Antiquitates Romanae'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/1C*.html#50 1.50.3].</ref> 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 is [[Mount Ida]], where he built a temple to the Mother of the Gods ([[Cybele]]) and instituted mysteries and ceremonies still observed in [[Phrygia]] in Dionysius's time. According to [[Dictys Cretensis]], his wife was called [[Olizone]], daughter of Phineus and became the mother of [[Erichthonius of Dardania|Erichthonius]].<ref>[[Dictys Cretensis]], [https://topostext.org/work/152#3.5 ''Trojan War Chronicle'' 3.5] & [https://topostext.org/work/152#4.22 4.22]</ref> In other accounts, the wife of Dardanus was called [[Arisbe (mythology)|Arisbe]], daughter of King Teucer of [[Crete]]<ref>[[Tzetzes]] on [[Lycophron]], 1298</ref> or King [[Macareus of Rhodes|Macareus]] of [[Lesbos]].<ref name="Stephanus">[[Stephanus of Byzantium]], s.v. ''Arisbe''</ref>

Dardanus reigned for 64 or 65 years and was succeeded by his son Erichthonius or in some accounts, Ilus.

== Cultural depictions ==
There are [[opera]]s on the subject of Dardanus by [[Dardanus (opera)|Jean-Philippe Rameau]] (1739), [[Carl Stamitz]] (1770) and [[Dardanus (Sacchini)|Antonio Sacchini]] (1784).

== Family tree ==
{{Trojan race}}

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==

* [[Dictys Cretensis]]'', from The Trojan War.'' ''The Chronicles of Dictys of Crete and [[Dares Phrygius|Dares the Phrygian]]'' translated by Richard McIlwaine Frazer Jr. (1931–). Indiana University Press. 1966. [https://topostext.org/work/152 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus|Dionysus of Halicarnassus]], ''Roman Antiquities.'' English translation by Earnest Cary in the Loeb Classical Library, 7 volumes. Harvard University Press, 1937–1950. [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/home.html 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. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0572 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* Lactantius, Divine Institutes, Translated by William Fletcher (1810–1900). From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886.) [https://topostext.org/work/543 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
*[[Maurus Servius Honoratus]], ''In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii;'' recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0053 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
*[[Pausanias (geographer)|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}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]
*Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.  [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0159 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
*[[Stephanus of Byzantium]], ''Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt,'' edited by August Meineike (1790–1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling. [https://topostext.org/work/241 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
{{Authority control}}
{{Aeneid}}
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[[Category:Mythological Arcadians]]
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[[Category:Flood myths]]
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