Pelasgus thesproticus
In Greek mythology, Pelasgus (Ancient Greek: Πελασγός) was the eponymous ancestor of the Pelasgians, the mythical inhabitants of Greece who established the worship of the Dodonaean Zeus, Hephaestus, the Cabeiri, and other divinities. In the different parts of the country once occupied by Pelasgians, there existed different traditions as to the origin and connection of Pelasgus. The ancient Greeks even used to believe that he was the first man.
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Telestes pleurobipunctatus and pelasgus thesproticus caught in messonghi river corfu island
Inachid Pelasgoí of Argos
In Argos, several Inachid kings were also called Pelasgus. One, the brother to Apis both sons of Phoroneus, is said to have founded the city of Argos in Peloponnesus, to have taught the people agriculture, and to have received Demeter, on her wanderings, at Argos, where his tomb was shown in later times. Another was believed to have been a son of Triopas and Sois, and a brother of Iasus, Agenor, and Xanthus. Also known as Pelasgus was Gelanor, he welcomed Danaus and the Danaides when they fled from Aegyptus. According to others, again, Pelasgus was a son of Arestor, and grandson of Iasus, and immigrated into Arcadia, where he founded the town of Parrhasia.
In The Suppliants
In Aeschylus' play The Suppliants the Danaids fleeing from Egypt seek asylum from King Pelasgus of Argos, which he says is on the Strymon including Perrhaebia in the north, Dodona and the slopes of the Pindus mountains on the west and the shores of the sea on the east; that is, a territory including or north of the Thessalian Pelasgiotis. The southern boundary is not mentioned; however, Apis is said to have come to Argos from Naupactus "across" (peras), implying that Argos includes all of east Greece from the north of Thessaly to the Peloponnesian Argos, where the Danaids are probably to be conceived as having landed. He claims to rule the Pelasgians and to be the "child of Palaichthon ('ancient earth') whom the earth brought forth."
The Danaids call the country the "Apian hills" and claim that it understands the karbana audan, which many translate as "barbarian speech" but Karba (where live the Karbanoi) is in fact a non-Greek word. They claim to descend from ancestors in ancient Argos even though they are of a "dark race" (melanthes ... genos). Pelasgus admits that the land was once called Apia but compares them to the women of Libya and Egypt and wants to know how they can be from Argos on which they cite descent from Io.
In a lost play by Aeschylus, Danaan Women, he defines the original homeland of the Pelasgians as the region around Mycenae.
Pelasgus of Arcadia
According to the Arcadian tradition, he was either an autochthon, or a son of Zeus by Niobe (and in the latter case brother of Argus). The Oceanide Meliboea, the nymph Cyllene, or Deianeira, became by him the mother of Lycaon of Arcadia.
Pelasgus of Thessaly
In Thessaly, Pelasgus was described as the father of Chlorus, and as the grandfather of Haemon, or as the father of Haemon, and as the grand father of Thessalus, or again as a son of Poseidon and Larissa, and as the founder of the Thessalian Argos.
He is also said to have been the ancestor of the Tyrrhenians through the following lineage: Pelasgus - Phrastor - Amyntor - Teutamides - Nanas. In the latter's reign, the Pelasgians were believed to have left Greece and to have settled in a new land that later came to be named Tyrrhenia.
Pelasgus and Troy
In the Iliad, Homer characterizes the Pelasgians as brave fighters. To fight the war, they migrated from the Balkan peninsula into Asia Minor. The Pelasgians fought against the tribes of Greeks in the war of Troy. Pelasgus fought alongside the Dardanians and other allies defending the walls of the city of Troy.