In Greek mythology, Assaracus (/əˈsærəkəs/; Ancient Greek: Ἀσσάρακος Assarakos) was a king of Dardania.[1]

Family

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Assaracus was the second son of Tros, King of Dardania[2] by his wife Callirhoe, daughter of Scamander,[3] or Acallaris, daughter of Eumedes.[4] He was the brother of Ilus, Ganymede, Cleopatra and possibly of Cleomestra.[5] Assaracus married Hieromneme, daughter of Simoeis; others say his wife was Clytodora, daughter of Laomedon.[4] By either of them, he became the father of his son and heir Capys.[6]

According to a less common version, Aesyetes and Cleomestra were also mentioned as parents of Assaracus. In this account, his brothers were Alcathous and Antenor.[7] According to the Roman mythographer Hyginus, Ganymedes was not a brother of Assaracus, but rather his son.[8]

Mythology

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Assaracus inherited the throne of Dardania when his elder brother Ilus preferred to reign instead over his newly founded city of Ilium (which also became known as Troy). When he died, the kingship passed to his son Capys. As a tribute to all his good work, Assaracus was buried in the midst of Troy, close to the temple of Athena and the later palace of Priam.[9]

Family tree

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Notes

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  1. ^ Virgil, Aeneid 6.637-678
  2. ^ Homer, Iliad 20.230-240; Diodorus Siculus, 4.75.3-5; Ovid, Fasti 4.34; Suda, s.v. Minos
  3. ^ Conon, Narrations 12; Apollodorus, 3.12.2; Tzetzes on Lycophron, 29; Scholiast on Homer, Iliad 20.231 who refers to Hellanicus as his authority
  4. ^ a b Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae 1.62.2
  5. ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.756; Oxyrhynchus Papyri, 1359 fr. 2 as cited in Hesiod, Ehoiai fr. 102
  6. ^ Ovid, Fasti 4.123
  7. ^ Dictys Cretensis, 4.22
  8. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 224.
  9. ^ Quintus Smyrnaeus, 6.145 ff. p. 266

References

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