Tectamus (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: Τέκταμος "craftsman", derived from ''tectainomai "''to build", "plan", from ''tecton'', "carpenter", "builder") was a king of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

and hero of ancient Hellenic mythology. He was also called

Tectaphus In Greek mythology, Tectaphus () may refer to the following characters: * Tectaphus, another name of Tectamus, the son of Dorus, who migrated to Crete where he married Cretheus’ daughter and ruled over the said island. By her, Tectaphus became t ...

, Teutamus (), Tectauus () and Tectaeus ().

Name

Joseph Vendryes Joseph Vendryes or Vendryès (; 13 January 1875 – 30 January 1960) was a French Celtic linguist. After studying with Antoine Meillet, he was chairman of Celtic languages and literature at the École Pratique des Hautes Études. He founded the ...

had suggested that the name ''Teutamus'', after the legendary

Pelasgian The name Pelasgians (, ) was used by Classical Greece, Classical Greek writers to refer either to the predecessors of the Greeks, or to all the inhabitants of Greece before the Greeks#Origins, emergence of the Greeks. In general, "Pelasgian" h ...

founder, may contain the

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...

root ('tribe, people'). Later scholars proposed a relation of Pelasgian ''Teutamus'' with similar names that appear in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in later times.

Mythology

Tectamus was the son of

Dorus In Greek mythology, Dorus (, probably derived from ''dōron'' "gift") was the Eponym, eponymous founder of the Dorians. Family Each of Hellen, Hellen's sons founded a primary tribe of Greece: Aeolus (son of Hellen), Aeolus the Aeolians, Dorus t ...

and grandson of

Hellen In Greek mythology, Hellen (; ) is the eponymous progenitor of the Greeks, Hellenes. He is the son of Deucalion (or Zeus) and Pyrrha, and the father of three sons, Dorus, Xuthus, and Aeolus (son of Hellen), Aeolus, by whom he is the ancestor of t ...

. According to

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental Universal history (genre), universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty ...

, Tectamus invaded

together with a horde of Aeolian and Pelasgian settlers and became the island's king. It was the third of the tribes that migrated to Crete. According to another version, Tectamus was a chief of Dorians and Achaeans. He married

Cretheus In Greek mythology, Cretheus (; Ancient Greek: Κρηθεύς ''Krētheus'') was the king and founder of Iolcus. Family Cretheus was the son of King Aeolus of Aeolia (son of Hellen) by either EnareteHesiod, '' Ehoiai'' fr. 10(a); Apollodorus1. ...

' (

Cres Cres is an Adriatic island in Croatia. It is one of the northern islands in the Kvarner Gulf and can be reached via ferry from Rijeka, Krk island or from the Istrian peninsula (line Brestova-Porozina). With an area of , Cres has the same si ...

’) daughter who gave birth to his son

Asterion In Greek mythology, Asterion (Ancient Greek, Greek: , gen.: , literally "starry") or Asterius () may refer to the following figures: * Asterion (god), Asterion, one of the River gods (Greek mythology), river gods. * Asterius (giant), Asterius ...

In later Greek historiography

Historian

Ctesias Ctesias ( ; ; ), also known as Ctesias of Cnidus, was a Greek physician and historian from the town of Cnidus in Caria, then part of the Achaemenid Empire. Historical events Ctesias, who lived in the fifth century BC, was physician to the Acha ...

wrote of a king of "

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

n" provenance named Teutamus, and this historical personage appears in an epic tale involving

Memnon In Greek mythology, Memnon (; Ancient Greek: Μέμνων, ) was a king of Aethiopia and son of Tithonus and Eos. During the Trojan War, he brought an army to Troy's defense and killed Antilochus, Nestor (mythology), Nestor's son, during a fi ...

, son of

Eos In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Eos (; Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek ''Ēṓs'', Attic Greek, Attic ''Héōs'', "dawn", or ; Aeolic Greek, Aeolic ''Aúōs'', Doric Greek, Doric ''Āṓs'') is the go ...

.Petit, Thierry. "Amathousiens, Éthiopiens et Perses". In: ''Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes''. Volume 28, 1998. p. 77. OI: https://doi.org/10.3406/cchyp.1998.1340; www.persee.fr/doc/cchyp_0761-8271_1998_num_28_1_1340

Notes

References

, ''The Library of History'' translated by

Charles Henry Oldfather Charles Henry Oldfather (13 June 1887 – 20 August 1954) was an American professor of Greek and Ancient History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He was born in Tabriz, Qajar dynasty, Persia. Parentage Oldfather's parents, Jeremiah and Feli ...

. Twelve volumes.

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a monographic series of books originally published by Heinemann and since 1934 by Harvard University Press. It has bilingual editions of ancient Greek and Latin literature, ...

. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8
Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
* Graves, Robert, ''The Greek Myths: The Complete and Definitive Edition.'' Penguin Books Limited. 2017. Princes in Greek mythology Kings of Crete Kings in Greek mythology Mythological Cretans Cretan mythology {{greek-myth-royal-stub