Note: Hellen was not the same person as Helen of Troy, or Helenus, son of King Priam of Troy.

'Hellen (Classical Greek ', Héllēn) is the mythological patriarch of the Hellenes, the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha (or sometimes Zeus), brother of Amphictyon and father of Aeolus, Xuthus, and Dorus. His name is also another name for Greek, meaning a person of Greek descent or pertaining to Greek culture, and the source of the adjective "Hellenic". Each of his sons founded a primary tribe of Greece - Aeolus the Aeolians, Dorus the Dorians and Xuthus the Achaeans (from Xuthus's son Achaeus) and the Ionians (from Xuthus's probably illegitimate son Ionas ). They conquered the Greek area of Phthia and subsequently spread their rule to other Greek cities. The people of those areas came to be called Hellenes, after the name of their "protectors".

Hellene

See also

• Hellenes
• Greece
• Hellenic civilization
• Mythology