ILUS (mortal king of Troy)

Ilus drove Tantalus out of Paphlagonia after Tantalus angered the gods.² He then traveled to Phrygia and won a wrestling competition held by the local king.⁶ For this victory, he received fifty young men and fifty young women as a prize.⁶ The king also gave him a dappled cow.⁶

Ilus followed the cow until it lay down on the hill of the Phrygian Ate.⁶ There, he prayed to Zeus for a sign.⁶ He saw the Palladium fall from the sky.⁶ Ilus constructed a temple for the Palladium and honored it.⁶ He founded a city in the plain that became the most renowned in the Troad.^6,3,7 He named it Ilium after his own name.^6,3

Accounts differ regarding his wife, with some naming Eurydice, daughter of Adrastus, while others identify her as Placia, daughter of Otreus, or Leucippe.⁶ Ilus was the father of Laomedon.^6,3 He also had a daughter named Themiste who married Capys.¹ With a nymph called Calybe, he had a son named Bucolion.⁶

Ilus received a golden chalice from his father Tros as part of a family inheritance.⁸ He passed the golden chalice on to Laomedon.⁸ The tomb of Ilus is located in the Scamandrian plain.^9,10 Oaks are said to have been planted at his tomb when the city was first named Ilium.⁹ A monument dedicated to Ilus served as a meeting spot for Hector and other councillors.¹¹