Mythological city founders

right|thumb|upright=1.3|''Thor's Fight with the Giants (Tors strid med jättarna) by (1872). Thor (from ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, storms, strength, protection, fertility, and farmers. Besides Old Norse , the deity occurs in Old English as ', in Old Frisian as '', in Old Saxon as , and in Old High German as , all ultimately stemming from the Proto-Germanic theonym ', meaning 'Thunder'.

In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards, fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Greeks (a name later adopted by the Romans) for a frenzy he is said to induce called baccheia. His wine, music, and ecstatic dance were considered to free his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful. His thyrsus, a fennel-stem sceptre, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wan

In Greek mythology, Perseus (, ; ) is the legendary founder of the Perseid dynasty. He was, alongside Cadmus and Bellerophon, the greatest Greek hero and slayer of monsters before the days of Heracles. He beheaded the Gorgon Medusa for Polydectes and saved Andromeda from the sea monster Cetus. He was a demigod, being the son of Zeus and the mortal Danaë, as well as the half-brother and great-grandfather of Heracles (as they were both children of Zeus, and Heracles's mother was Perseus's granddaughter).

thumb|alt=Sisyphus depicted on a black-figure amphora vase |Persephone supervising Sisyphus in the Underworld, Attic [[black-figure amphora, BC, Staatliche Antikensammlungen]] thumb|Sisyphus and Amphiaraus, copy of a mural in the [[François Tomb, Vulci, made in 4th century BC]]

Cain is a biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He is the elder brother of Abel, and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, the first couple within the Bible. He was a farmer who gave an offering of his crops to God. However, God was not pleased and favored Abel's offering over Cain's. Out of jealousy, Cain killed his brother, for which he was punished by God with the curse and mark of Cain. He had several descendants, starting with his son Enoch and including Lamech.

Enoch ( ; Henṓkh) is a biblical figure and patriarch prior to Noah's flood. He is the son of Jared and father of Methuselah.

In Greek mythology, Cadmus (; ) was the legendary Phoenician founder of Boeotian Thebes. He was, alongside Perseus and Bellerophon, the greatest hero and slayer of monsters before the days of Heracles. Commonly stated to be a prince of Phoenicia, the son of king Agenor and queen Telephassa of Tyre, the brother of Phoenix, Cilix and Europa, Cadmus traced his origins back to Poseidon and Libya.

In Greek and Roman mythology, Dido ( ; ; ), also known as Elissa ( ; ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage. In most accounts, she was originally the joint ruler of Tyre who fled tyranny to found her own city in northwest Africa, now modern-day Tunisia. As she is only known from ancient Greek and Roman sources, all of which were written well after Carthage's founding, her historicity remains uncertain.

Romulus (, ) was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of these traditions incorporate elements of folklore, and it is not clear to what extent a historical figure underlies the mythical Romulus, the events and institutions ascribed to him were central to the myths surrounding Rome's origins and cultural traditions.

thumb|Athena counseling Diomedes shortly before he enters the battle. Schlossbrücke, Berlin.

thumb|Roman mosaic with Pelops and Hippodamia, kept in the D. Diogo de Sousa Museum in Braga, Portugal.

In Greek mythology, Epaphus (; ), also called Apis or Munantius was a son of Zeus and king of Egypt.

mythological Greek character, son of Zeus

ruler of Troy in Greek mythology

3 legendary brothers, each the mythical founder of the 3 Slavic peoples (Poles, Czechs, and the Rus'), appearing in the Wielkopolska Chronicle

Greek mythical character, king of Arcadia, son of Pelasgus and Meliboea

son of Cain (Biblical figure)

mythical character, son of Lynceus

In Greek mythology, Salmoneus (; ) was 'the wicked' eponymous king and founder of Salmone in Pisatis.

legendary descendant of the Trojan hero Aeneas

Byzas (Ancient Greek: Βύζας, Býzas) was the legendary founder of Byzantium (Ancient Greek: Βυζάντιον, Byzántion), the city later known as Constantinople and then Istanbul.

son of Tros in Greek mythology, mythological founder of Troy

Rama's brother

mythical Trojan hero

thumb|Portrait from Promptuarium Iconum Insigniorum (1553) by [[Guillaume Rouillé]] Ninus (), according to Greek historians writing in the Hellenistic period and later, was the founder of Nineveh (also called Νίνου πόλις "city of Ninus" in Greek), ancient capital of Assyria. What figure or figures he may have been based on is uncertain; an identification with Shamshi-Adad I, Shamshi-Adad V, and/or a conflation of the two has been suggested.

thumb|Phlegias with Dante Alighieri|Dante and [[Virgil, stained glass in Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan]]

son of Shem, the second son of Shem, son of Noah, ancestor of the Assyrians in Iraq and Syria

In Greek mythology, Pittheus (; ) was the king of Troezen, city in Argolis, which he had named after his brother Troezen.

daughter of Krakus, legendary founder of Kraków; upon her father's death, she became queen of the Poles, but committed suicide to avoid an unwanted marriage to a German

Krakus, Krak or Grakch was a legendary Polish prince, ruler of the Vistulans (a Lechitic tribe), and the presumed founder of Kraków. Krakus is also credited with building Wawel Castle and slaying the Wawel Dragon by feeding it a dead sheep full of sulfur. The latter is how Krak the cobbler became Krakus the prince, and later king. The first recorded mention of Krakus, then spelled Grakch, is in the Chronica seu originale regum et principum Poloniae from 1190.

son of Cretheus in Greek mythology

thumb|Statue of an archer, traditionally called "Teucer," from the Temple of Aphaia, ca. 505–500 BC. thumb|right|Statue of Teucer by Sir William Hamo Thornycroft

son of Assaracus in Greek mythology

thumb|Tahmuras Defeating the Div (mythology)|Divs. Miniature by [[Reza Abbasi from the Shahnameh of Shah Abbas. Qazvin, c. 1590-1600. Chester Beatty Library]] thumb|upright|Lee Lawrie, Tahmurath (1939). Library of Congress [[John Adams Building, Washington, D.C.]] Tahmuras or Tahmures (, ; from Avestan "Strong Fox" via ) was the third Shah of the mythical Pishdadian dynasty of Iran according to Ferdowsi's epic poem, the Shahnameh. He is considered the builder of Merv.

mythical character

Tenoch (or Tenuch, ) was a ruler of the Mexica (Aztecas) in the 14th century during the Aztec travels from Aztlán to Tenochtitlan. The settlers of Tenochtitlan were originally referred to as Tenochca, then the Mexica. Tenoch was a respected chief who was elected to power by the council of elders and died sometime between 1350 and 1375, depending on the source.

mythical king of Sicyon

right|framed|An image of Bladud attempting to fly with his artificial wings (from the Lyte Pedigree of 1605. British Library Catalog entry Add. Ms. 48343).

In Roman mythology, Caeculus (meaning "little blind boy", from caecus "blind") was a son of Vulcan, and the legendary founder of Praeneste (modern Palestrina).

founders of the medieval city of Kyiv

Mythological founder of Syracuse, Sicily

In Greek mythology, Heleus or Heleius (Ancient Greek: Ἕλειος), also Helios (Ἕλιος), was a Mycenaean prince.

Gatumdug (; dĜa2-tum3-dug3; also romanized as Gatumdu) was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the tutelary deity of Lagash and closely associated with its kings. She was initially worshiped only in this city and in NINA, but during the reign of Gudea a temple was built for her in Girsu. She appears in a number of literary compositions, including the hymn inscribed on the Gudea cylinders and Lament for Sumer and Ur.

mythical son of Orestes

minor Biblical figure and ascribed ancestor to various communities (Genesis 10)

son of Arne and Poseidon in Greek mythology

Sheerah is a woman in the Hebrew Bible who appears only in 1 Chronicles 7:24, where it says that she built three cities: Lower and Upper Beth-horon, and Uzzen-sheerah. According to 2 Chronicles 8:5, Upper and Lower Beth-horon were rebuilt by Solomon as fortified cities.

Babylonian god Bel Marduk - God of war

thumb|Dice Offering a Banquet to Francus, in the Presence of Hyante and Climene, from 'La Franciade' by Pierre de Ronsard, painted by Toussaint Dubreuil (16th century) Francus, also called Francio, is a mythical figure of Frankish medieval historians which referred to a legendary eponymous king of the Franks, a descendant of the Trojans and forefather of the Merovingian dynasty. In the Renaissance, Francus was generally considered to be another name for the Trojan Astyanax (son of Hector) saved from the destruction of Troy. He is not considered to be historical, but medieval and Renaissance c

Phidalia () or Phidaleia () is a female figure from ancient Greek mythology associated with the Byzantium and Byzas (the legendary founder of Byzantium).

Anteias or Antias () was in Roman mythology a figure in some versions of Rome's foundation myth. He was one of the three sons of Odysseus by Circe, and brother to Rhomos and Ardeas, each of whom were said to have founded a major Roman city, much like the Romulus and Remus myth. The town of Anteia or Antium in Italy was said to have been founded by, and taken its name from, this Anteias.