EVANDER, in Greek and Roman Mythology, a son of Mercury and an Arcadian nymph called in the Greek traditions Themis or Nicostrate, and in the Roman Tiburtis, or more commonly Carmente. In consequence of civil broils, in the course of which Evander was worsted, he left his native city of Pallantium in Arcadia, and sailed for Italy, where he settled at the foot of the Palatine Hill, and was hospitably received by king Turnus. The town of Pallantium, which he is said to have built on the spot where he disembarked, was subsequently incorporated with Rome,
and gave name to the Palatine Hill, Palatium, &c. Among the other arts which traditions describe him as diffusing among the Italians, was that of writing, which he had himself learned from Hercules. Virgil describes Evander as still alive when Æneas landed in Italy, and as forming an alliance with that chief against the Rutuli.