Mythical Thracian hero, traditionally said to be the son of Eumolpus, fruit of Poseidon’s illicit passion for Chione. Fearing her father’s wrath, Chione threw the newborn child into the sea. Poseidon carried him safely to Ethiopia and entrusted him to the care of his sister, Benthesicyme. When the time came for him to marry, his foster father gave him one of their daughters for his wife, but when he attempted to rape his sister-in-law he was banished. Taking his son Ismarus he travelled to the court of the Thracian king Tegyrius, who married Ismarus to one of his daughters. Eumolpus was later exiled again, this time for conspiring against Tegyrius. He went to Eleusis, where he had friends, but upon the death of Ismarus Tegyrius summoned him back to Thrace. Another tradition holds that Ismarus was the son of Ares and Thrace and that he gave his name to the city of Ismarus, the coastal stronghold of the Cicones, a Thracian tribe mentioned by Homer.
