Ganymede. In Greek mythology, Ganymede or Ganymedes is a divine hero whose homeland was Troy.
Homer describes Ganymede as the most beautiful of mortals, and in one version of the myth Zeus falls in love with his beauty and abducts him in the form of an eagle to serve as cup-bearer in Olympus. The myth was a model for the Greek social custom of paiderastía, the socially acceptable romantic relationship between an adult male and an adolescent male.
The Latin form of the name was Catamitus, from which the English word catamite is derived. According to Plato, the Cretans were regularly accused of inventing the myth because they wanted to justify their unnatural pleasures.
Ganymede was the son of Tros of Dardania, from whose name Troy was supposedly derived, either by his wife Callirrhoe, daughter of the river god Scamander, or Acallaris, daughter of Eumedes. He was the brother of Ilus, Assaracus, Cleopatra and Cleomestra.
The traditions about Ganymedes, however, differ greatly in their detail, for some call him a son of Laomedon, others a son of Ilus in some version of Dardanus and others, again, of Erichthonius or Assaracus. Ganymede was abducted by Zeus from Mount Ida, near Troy in Phrygia. Ganymede had been tending sheep, a rustic or humble pursuit characteristic of a hero's boyhood before his privileged status is revealed. Zeus either summoned an eagle or turned into an eagle himself to
Homer describes Ganymede as the most beautiful of mortals, and in one version of the myth Zeus falls in love with his beauty and abducts him in the form of an eagle to serve as cup-bearer in Olympus. The myth was a model for the Greek social custom of paiderastía, the socially acceptable romantic relationship between an adult male and an adolescent male.
The Latin form of the name was Catamitus, from which the English word catamite is derived. According to Plato, the Cretans were regularly accused of inventing the myth because they wanted to justify their unnatural pleasures.
Ganymede was the son of Tros of Dardania, from whose name Troy was supposedly derived, either by his wife Callirrhoe, daughter of the river god Scamander, or Acallaris, daughter of Eumedes. He was the brother of Ilus, Assaracus, Cleopatra and Cleomestra.
The traditions about Ganymedes, however, differ greatly in their detail, for some call him a son of Laomedon, others a son of Ilus in some version of Dardanus and others, again, of Erichthonius or Assaracus. Ganymede was abducted by Zeus from Mount Ida, near Troy in Phrygia. Ganymede had been tending sheep, a rustic or humble pursuit characteristic of a hero's boyhood before his privileged status is revealed. Zeus either summoned an eagle or turned into an eagle himself to
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