Scamander

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In Greek mythology, Scamander (Skamandros) was a river god, son of Oceanus and Tethys. By Idaea, he fathered King Teucer. However, in the popular ancient Greek text The Iliad, he is a priest who, after self-mutalation and dedicated worship of Cybele, a Phyrgian and Anatolian equivalent of the Greco-Roman Titaness Rhea,was rewarded by being transformed into a river god.

Scamander fought on the side of the Trojans during the Trojan War (Iliad XX, 73/74; XXI). In this context, he is the personification of the Scamander River that flowed from Mount Ida across the plain beneath the city of Troy, joining the Hellespont north of the city. The Achaeans, according to Homer, had set up their camp near its mouth, and their battles with the Trojans were fought on the plain of Scamander.

According to Homer, he was called Xanthos by gods and Scamander by men, which might indicate that the former name refers to the god and the latter one to the river itself.

In Iliad XXI he tried, after being mocked by Achilles, to drown him, but was hindered by Hera and Hephaestus.