Editing Taras (mythology)

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[[File:Tarentum incuse nomos 769750.jpg|thumb|A silver coin of Taranto representing Taras.]]
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Taras''' ({{langx|grc|Τάρας}}) was the [[eponym]]ous founder of the [[ancient Greece|Greek]] colony of Taras (Tarentum, modern [[Taranto]]), in [[Magna Graecia]] (today [[Southern Italy]]).

== Family ==
Taras was the son of [[Poseidon]] and [[Satyrion]], either a [[Taranto|Tarentine]] [[nymph]] or a daughter of [[Minos]].<ref>[[Marcus Valerius Probus|Probus]] on [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Georgics]]'', 2. 197</ref>

== Mythology ==
When Taras was shipwrecked, his father rescued him by sending a [[dolphin]] which he rode to traverse the sea from the promontory of Taenarum to the south of Italy. Brought ashore, Taras founded Tarentum which was named in his honour.<ref>{{cite web|title=Boy On A Dolphin Ancient Greek Coin Jewelry|url=http://www.newworldtreasures.com/dolphin.htm|website=New World Treasures|access-date=26 June 2019}}</ref> According to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], he was worshiped as a hero who named both the city and the river, Taras after himself.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' 10. 10. 8</ref>

== Taranto ==
Note that a harbour close by Taranto is still called Torre Saturo (derived from Satyrion). It was in Torre Saturo, almost {{cvt|15|km}} south of Taranto, that [[Sparta]]n colonists settled their first colony in Taranto zone. Later, around 706 BC, they conquered the [[Iapygians|Iapygian]] city of Taranto. On the [[ancient Greek coinage|coinage]] of the ancient city of Taras, the son of Poseidon is depicted on a dolphin, sometimes with his father's [[trident]] in one hand; the same image is depicted on the modern city emblem.<ref>{{cite web |title=Boy on a Dolphin |url=http://www.alluriana.com/boy-on-dolphin.html |website=Alluriana |access-date=2014-09-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140911084906/http://www.alluriana.com/boy-on-dolphin.html |archive-date=2014-09-11 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Arion]] – another dolphin-riding young man. Saved by dolphins after being captured by pirates whilst returning from Taranto, Taras's city. 
* [[Melicertes]] – the son of [[Ino (Greek mythology)|Ino]] and king [[Athamas]] of [[Boeotia]]. Ino and Melicertes threw themselves off of a large rock at the [[Isthmus of Corinth]]. They were then deified as Palaemon (Melicertes) and [[Leucothea]] (Ino). As Palaemon, Melicertes is often depicted mounted on a dolphin.
* [[Amphitrite]] – the queen of the sea, carried to Poseidon, her future husband, by [[Delphinus]], after hiding from the god at the Atlas mountains.
* [[Dionysus]] – a similar story to Arion's ends with Dionysus turning a crew of pirate kidnappers into dolphins, save for one helmsman, who had tried to help Dionysus.
* [[Apollo]] – the god came to the site of [[Delphi]], then known as Krisa or Pytho (due to the [[Python (mythology)|Python]] who lived there), shaped like a dolphin, carrying [[Minoan civilization|Cretan]] priests, whom he rescued from a shipwreck, on his back. The site would be named ''Delphi'' to commemorate this event and Apollo would bear the epithet ''Delphinios''.

==Notes==
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== References ==
* {{cite book |author=Pausanias |author-link=Pausanias (geographer) |year=1918 |title=Description of Greece |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.1.1 |translator-last1=Jones |translator-first1=W. H. S. |translator-link1=William Henry Samuel Jones |translator-last2=Ormerod |translator-first2=H. A. |location=Cambridge, MA; London |publisher=Harvard University Press; William Heinemann Ltd}}
* {{cite book |author=Pausanias |year=1903 |title=Graeciae Descriptio |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0159 |location=Leipzig |publisher=Teubner}}

[[Category:Children of Poseidon]]
[[Category:Kings in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Laconian mythology]]
[[Category:Magna Graecia]]