Podarces

Podarces was the younger son of Iphiclus, and it was also the original name of Priam, the youngest son of Laomedon. Hesiod tells us that Iphiclus' son could run so quickly over cornfields that he did not even bend a stalk and that the boy was so named by his father for his fleetness of foot (podoces, 'swift-footed').

However, this ignores the V in the name, which gives it an apparent meaning of 'bear-foot', from pos, podos and arctos, 'bear'. This could be a 'power' name for one who will crush his enemies under foot. We are told in the Iliad that Podarces, the son of Iphiclus, took command of a fleet of forty ships in the Trojan War. Priam's original name could have had either of these senses.

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