Ilus (son of Tros)
Founder of Ilium, later known as Troy.
Ilus was a figure in Greek mythology who founded the city of Ilios, later known as Ilion and commonly called Troy. He gave the city his name. Some accounts describe him as having a horsehair plume. The asteroid (18282) Ilus was named after him.
Quick Facts
- Parents
- Tros and Callirhoe (or Acallaris)
- Siblings
- Assaracus
- Ganymede
- Cleopatra (possibly Cleomestra)
- Spouse
- Eurydice
- Leucippe
- or Batia
- Children
- Laomedon
- Themiste (or Themis)
- Telecleia (in some accounts Tithonus and Ganymede)
- City founded
- Ilium (also called Ilios or Ilion, later Troy)
- Notable artifact
- Palladium
Facts from the source article.
Family
Ilus, the son and heir of King Tros of Dardania, was born to either the naiad Callirhoe or Acallaris. His siblings included Assaracus, Ganymede, Cleopatra, and possibly Cleomestra. He fathered Laomedon with a wife named Eurydice, Leucippe, or Batia. Ilus also had daughters, Themiste and Telecleia, who married Capys and Cisseus. Some traditions credit him as the father of Tithonus and Ganymede.
Mythology
In his youth, Ilus traveled to Phrygia and won a wrestling match at games held by the local king. His prize included fifty youths and fifty maidens, and the king, following an oracle's advice, gave him a dappled cow and instructed him to found a city wherever the cow lay down. The cow rested on the hill of Atë, and there Ilus built the city he called Ilium. Ilus then prayed to Zeus for a sign and saw the Palladium, a wooden statue three cubits high with feet joined, holding a spear in its right hand and a distaff and spindle in the other, fall from heaven before his tent. He was blinded for looking upon it, but after making offerings to Athena, his sight was restored. He placed the Palladium in a temple as a sign of Zeus's consent. According to Dictys Cretensis, the image fell during the construction of Athena's temple, landing in its proper place before the roof was added. Clement of Alexandria noted an opinion that the Palladium was made from the bones of Pelops. Ilus preferred Ilium to Dardania and, upon his father's death, gave rule of Dardania to his brother Assaracus, dividing the Trojans into two kingdoms. His son Laomedon succeeded him as king of Troy. Ilus, a godly man, expelled Tantalus from Paphlagonia after Tantalus incurred divine enmity, leading to a battle between Ilus and Pelops, which Ilus won. In some myths, Ilus defeated Byzos, king of the Bebrykes, and greatly raised Ilion. After his death, the Trojans built a large burial mound for him before the gates of his city.
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