Euandros
Euandros (Greek Εὔανδρος, literally "Gutmann"; Latin Evander , German also written Euander ) was a hero on the one hand of the Arcadian city Pallantion and on the other hand of the Latins . He is said to have been the son of the Arcadian king Echemus of Tegea and Timandra or Hermes and the nymph Carmenta .
Because of the murder of his father, Euandros is said to have left his homeland 60 years before the destruction of Troy and led a Pelasgian colony from Pallantion in Arcadia to Lazio and built a city on the left bank of the Tiber , which he named Palatium after his native city and from which the Palatine received his name after the then King Faunus had granted him a piece of land.
According to ancient tradition, he introduced the alphabet, music and other arts of peace as well as the cult of Ceres , Neptunus Consus and Lycean Pan , in whose honor he founded the festival of the Lupercalia , which is said to be based on an Arcadian model. He welcomed Aeneas in a friendly manner and sent him 400 horsemen in the war against the Rutulians under his son Pallas, who was killed in this war by the hand of Turnus . The Romans revered Euandros among the local heroes ( indigetes ), and Dionysius of Halicarnassus claims to have seen his altar at the foot of the Aventine .
Euandros is already mentioned by Hesiod , but it is only later that it becomes more important. It was probably a demon from around Pan at first.
literature
- Andreas Rumpf : Euandros 1. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 2, Stuttgart 1967, column 394 f.
