The ancient writers seem to have adopted varying traditions of Ganymede’s myth which was a quite common phenomenon with Greek Mythology. This is not the only disagreement amongst the ancient sources. However, Euripides and Cicero, wrote that he was the son of Laomedon while there are other later mentions that he was the son of Ilus. Other notable sources include Hesiod, Pindar, Euripides, Apollodorus, Virgil, and Ovid.Īccording to Homer, Pindar, and Apollodorus, Ganymede was the son of Tros and Callirhoe. The first recorded mention of Ganymede is found in Homer’s Iliad dating back to the 8 th century BCE. Ganymede’s myth was especially popular amongst the Greeks and the Romans.
“godlike Ganymedes that was born the fairest of mortal men” Homer Iliad 20.199 Who Was Ganymede? Ganymede, Giulio Clovio, after a lost chalk drawing by Michelangelo, 1540, Royal Collection Trust, London
