Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

Dardanus’s son Erichthonius (distinct from the Attic earth-born Erichthonius) became the richest of men: Homer says he had three thousand mares pasturing in the marshland, and Boreas loved twelve of them, taking the form of a dark stallion so that they bore twelve fillies that raced over the fruit of the standing grain without breaking it. Apollodorus follows the same wealth-and-horses notice. Erichthonius’s son Tros gave his name to the Trojans and the Troad. Of Tros were born Ilus, Assaracus, and Ganymede—the last so beautiful that Zeus carried him off to be cupbearer, giving Tros immortal horses (or a golden vine, in alternate gifts) as compensation. From this generation the stemma splits: Ilus will found Ilium in the plain; Assaracus will father the quieter line that leads to Anchises and Aeneas. Catalogue Erichthonius’s pastoral wealth and Tros’s eponym as the middle Dardanid chapter between Dardanus’s hill-settlement and Ilus’s city.