Achilles Xanthos Simoeis Couder decoration Louvre INV3379

Scamander (), also Skamandros () or Xanthos (), was a river god in

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

Etymology

The meaning of this name is uncertain. The second element looks as though it is derived from Greek (), meaning "of a man", but there are sources who doubt this. The first element is more difficult to pinpoint; it could be derived from (), "to limp, to stumble (over an obstacle)", or from (), meaning "left(-handed), awkward". The meaning of the name might then perhaps be "limping man" or "awkward man". This would refer to the many bends and winds (meanders) of the river, which does not run straight, but "limps" its way along.

Geography

The

Scamander River Karamenderes is a river located entirely within the Çanakkale Province of Turkey. It flows west from Mount Ida (Turkey), Mount Ida and empties into the Aegean Sea near the Troy#Troy_Historical_National_Park, Troy Historical National Park. Acco ...

was named after the river god Scamander. The Scamander River was the river that surrounded Troy. The god Scamander took the side of the Trojans in the Trojan War.

Family

According to Hesiod, Scamander is the son of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. He is alternately described as a son of

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

. Scamander was the father of King Teucer whose mother was the water nymph Idaea. He was also mentioned as the father of Glaucia, lover of Deimachus. Additionally, Xanthus was credited to be the father of Eurythemista who bore Pelops and Niobe to Tantalus. Strymo or Rhoeo, wife of Laomedon, king of

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

was also called his daughter. Lastly, he also became the father of the priest Melus by an unknown woman or nymph.

Mythology

Scamander fought on the side of the Trojans during the Trojan War (''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

'' XX, 73/74; XXI), after the Greek hero

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's ''Iliad'', he was the son of the Nereids, Nereid Thetis and Peleus, ...

insulted him. Scamander was also said to have attempted to kill Achilles three times, and the hero was only saved due to the intervention of Hera,

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

and

Hephaestus Hephaestus ( , ; wikt:Hephaestus#Alternative forms, eight spellings; ) is the Greek god of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, fire, metallurgy, metalworking, sculpture and volcanoes.Walter Burkert, ''Greek Religion'' 1985: III.2. ...

. In this context, he is the personification of the

that flowed from Mount Ida across the plain beneath the city of Troy, joining the Hellespont north of the city. The Achaeans, according to

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

, had set up their camp near its mouth, and their battles with the Trojans were fought on the plain of Scamander. In ''Iliad'' XXII (149ff), Homer states that the river had two springs: one produced warm water; the other yielded cold water, regardless of the season. According to Homer, he was called

Xanthos Xanthos or Xanthus, also referred to by scholars as ''Arna'', its Lycian name, (, Lycian: 𐊀𐊕𐊑𐊏𐊀 ''Arñna'', , Latin: ''Xanthus'') was an ancient city near the present-day village of Kınık, in Antalya Province, Turkey. The ru ...

by gods and Scamander by men, which might indicate that the former name refers to the god and the latter one to the river itself. In a story by Pseudo-Plutarch, Scamander went mad during the mysteries of Rhea and flung himself into the river Xanthus, which was then renamed to Scamander.

Trojan descendants

Notes

References

* Hesiod, '' Theogony'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*

, ''The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Tsotakou-Karveli. ''Lexicon of Greek Mythology''. Athens: Sokoli, 1990. {{Authority control River gods in Greek mythology Deities in the Iliad Anatolia Children of Zeus