ILUS

1. A son of Dardanus by Bateia, the daughter of Teucer. Ilus died without issue, and left his kingdom to his brother, Erichthonius.

2. A son of Tros, and grandson of Erichthonius. His mother was Calirrhoe, and being a great-grandson of Dardanus, he is called Dardanides.

He was a brother of Assaracus, Ganymedes, and Cleopatra, and married to Eurydice, the daughter of Adrastus, by whom he became the father of Laomedon, so that he was the grandfather of Priam.

He was believed to be the founder of Troy (Ilion), concerning which the following story is related.

Once Ilus went to Phrygia, and there won the prize as a wrestler in the games which the king of Phrygia celebrated. The prize consisted of 50 youths and 50 maidens; and the king, in pursuance of an oracle, at the same time gave him a cow of different colours, requesting Ilus to build a town on the spot where that cow should lie down.

Ilus accordingly followed the cow until she laid down at the foot of the Phrygian hill, Ate. There Ilus accordingly built Ilion; and after having prayed to Zeus to send him a sign, he found on the next morning the palladium, a statue of three cubits in height, with its feet close together, holding a spear in its right hand, and a distaff in the left.

Ilus then built a temple for the statue.

Once, when this temple was consumed by fire, Ilus rescued the statue, but became blind, as no one was permitted to see it; but he afterwards propitiated the goddess, and recovered his sight.

Ilus is said to have expelled Tantalus or his son Pelops from Paphlagonia, for having carried off his brother Ganymedes.

His tomb was shown in the neighbourhood of Troy.

3. A son of Mermerus, and grandson of Jason and Medeia. He lived at Ephyra, between Elis and Olympia; and when Odysseus came to him to fetch the poison for his arrows, Ilus refused it, from fear of the vengeance of the Gods. ]