In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek 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...

, Tros was a ruler of Troy

Troy

Troy 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 son of Erichthonius

Erichthonius of Dardania

The mythical King Erichthonius of Dardania was the son of Dardanus or Darda, King of Dardania, and Batea,...

 by Astyoche (daughter of the river god Simoeis

Simoeis

Simoeis was a river of the Trojan plain and the name of its god. Like other river-gods, Simoeis was the son of Oceanus and Tethys . Simoeis had two daughters who were married into the Trojan royal family. One daughter, Astyoche, was married to Erichthonius, and the other daughter, Hieromneme was...

) or of Ilus I, from whom he inherited the throne. Tros was the father of three sons: Ilus

Ilus

Ilus 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...

, Assaracus

Assaracus

In Greek mythology, Assaracus was the second son of Tros, King of Dardania. He inherited the throne when his elder brother Ilus preferred to reign instead over his newly founded city of Ilium . He married Hieromneme, daughter of Simoeis; others say his wife was Clytodora, daughter of Laomedon....

, and Ganymede

Ganymede (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Ganymede is a divine hero whose homeland was Troy. Homer describes Ganymede as the most beautiful of mortals. In the best-known myth, he is abducted by Zeus, in the form of an eagle, to serve as cup-bearer in Olympus. Some interpretations of the myth treat it as an allegory of...

s. He is the eponym

Eponym

An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...

 of Troy

Troy

Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...

, also named Ilion for his son Ilus. Tros's wife was said to be Callirrhoe, daughter of the River God Scamander

Scamander

In Greek mythology, Scamander was a river god, son of Oceanus and Tethys according to Hesiod. Scamander is also thought of as the river god, son of Zeus. By Idaea, he fathered King Teucer....

, or Acallaris

Acallaris

In Greek mythology, Acallaris is the daughter of Eumedes. According to some accounts she married Tros....

, daughter of Eumedes

Eumedes

Eumedes was a name attributed to seven individuals in Greek mythology.*Eumedes was a famous herald among the Trojans. He was the father of Dolon and of five daughters....

.

When Zeus abducted Ganymedes, Tros grieved for his son. Sympathetic, Zeus sent Hermes

Hermes

Hermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and...

 with two horses so swift they could run over water. Hermes also assured Tros that Ganymede was immortal and would be the cupbearer of the gods, a position of great distinction.

In variant versions Ganymede is son of Laomedon

Laomedon

In Greek mythology, Laomedon was a Trojan king, son of Ilus, brother of Ganymede and Assaracus, and father of Priam, Astyoche, Lampus, Hicetaon, Clytius, Cilla, Proclia, Aethilla, Medesicaste, Clytodora, and Hesione...

 son of Ilus

Ilus

Ilus 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...

 son of Tros; yet others call him son of Ilus, Erichthonius or Assaracus.

It was from Tros that the Dardanians were called Trojan

Troy

Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...

s and the land named the Troad.