Dardania in
Greek mythologyGreek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
is the name of a
cityA city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
founded on Mount Ida by
DardanusIn Greek mythology, Dardanus was a son of Zeus and Electra, daughter of Atlas, and founder of the city of Dardania on Mount Ida in the Troad....
from which also the region and the people took their name. It lay on the Hellespont, and is the source of the strait's modern name, the
DardanellesThe Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately...
.
From Dardanus' grandson
TrosIn Greek mythology, Tros was a ruler of Troy and the son of Erichthonius by Astyoche or of Ilus I, from whom he inherited the throne. Tros was the father of three sons: Ilus, Assaracus, and Ganymedes. He is the eponym of Troy, also named Ilion for his son Ilus...
the people gained the additional name of Trojans and the region gained the additional name
Troad. Tros' son
IlusIlus is the name of several mythological persons associated directly or indirectly with Troy.-Ilus :Homer's Iliad mentions at several points the tomb of Ilus son of Dardanus in the middle of the Trojan plain...
subsequently founded a further city called Ilion (in Latin
IliumTroy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
) down on the plain, the city now more commonly called
TroyTroy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
, and the kingdom was split between Ilium and Dardania.
Dardania has also been defined as "a district of the Troad, lying along the Hellespont, southwest of
AbydosFor other uses, see Abydos Abydos , an ancient city of Mysia, in Asia Minor, situated at Nara Burnu or Nagara Point on the best harbor on the Asiatic shore of the Hellespont. Across Abydos lies Sestus on the European side marking the shortest point in the Dardanelles, scarcely a mile broad...
, and adjacent to the territory of Ilium. Its people (
Dardani) appear in the
Trojan WarIn Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad...
under
AeneasAeneas , in Greco-Roman mythology, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was the second cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas Priam's second cousin, once removed. The journey of Aeneas from Troy , which led to the founding a hamlet south of...
, in close alliance with the Trojans, with whose name their own is often interchanged, especially by the
RomanAncient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
poets."