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Emigration of Dardanus ₁

Dardanus ₁, son of Zeus and the Pleiad Electra ₃ lived in Samothrace, but when his brother Iasion, who was among the most handsome, was killed by Zeus with a thunderbolt because of his love affair with Demeter, 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 Hellespont, settling in the region afterwards called Phrygia.

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 Greeks affirm 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.

The Troad, after Jones' Strabo, Voss, and C. Mills Gayley

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 Chryse ₃ were Idaeus ₄ and Deimas. The latter remained in Arcadia, whence they come (as it is said that Atlas was king of Arcadia), 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 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 other assert that he married Acallaris, daughter of Eumedes ₆.

The founder of Troy

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 a 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. The cow rested in the hill of Ate, and in that spot Ilus ₂ built the city which he called Ilium. Then he prayed to Zeus that a sign might be shown to him, and he saw the Palladium fallen from heaven and lying before his tent. Ilus ₂ was then blinded, for the Palladium might not be looked upon by any man. But later, when he had made offerings to the goddess, he recovered his sight. 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 Troy, Apollo and Poseidon decided to put him to the test. Assuming the likeness of mortal men, the two gods undertook to fortify Troy for wages. But when the work was done, King Laomedon ₁ would not pay their wages. So Apollo sent a pestilence, and Poseidon sent a sea-monster that snatched away the people of the plain. The oracles foretold deliverance from these calamities if 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. When Heracles ₁ saw her exposed, he promised to save her on condition of receiving from Laomedon ₁ the mares which Zeus had given in compensation for the rape of Ganymedes. Once again Laomedon ₁ promised to pay for the service, and Heracles ₁ killed the monster and saved Hesione ₂. But when this was accomplished, Laomedon ₁ would not give the agreed reward.

First war against Troy

For this reason, Heracles ₁ made war on Troy one generation before the well known Trojan War. This attack on Troy, Heracles ₁ did it in conjunction with, among others, Telamon, father of Ajax ₁. Heracles ₁ deployed eighteen ships with fifty oars each, that is, an insignificant fleet compared to the one that 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. After him came Heracles ₁, who killed Laomedon ₁ and his sons except for young Priam ₁, who was then appointed king of Troy. The king's daughter Hesione ₂ was given to Telamon as a prize. Hesione ₂ is mother of Teucer ₁, who became leader of the Salaminians against Troy one generation after.

Second war against Troy

[See Trojan War].

Survival of the House of Dardanus ₁

In Dardania, Assaracus was succeeded on the throne by his son Capys ₁, who towards the end of the Trojan War is said to have recommended throwing the WOODEN HORSE into the sea. Capys ₁ is father of Anchises ₁, who is father of Aeneas, leader of the Dardanians during the Trojan War. Aeneas is remembered for his courage and piety, and as the one who was destined to survive and to save the House of Dardanus ₁ from extinction. For Aeneas, escaping from the flames of the sacked Troy, emigrated to Italy where he founded a kingdom which in time gave birth to Rome.

Throne Succession: Troy, Alba Longa, Rome

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