APRIL 24th – The legendary fall of TROY
According to mythology the Trojans were the citizens of the ancient municipality of Troy in the Troad region of Anatolia. Troy is presented in legend as part of the Greek culture of City states. Since the entire state comprised more than the city of Troy itself, anyone from its jurisdiction, which was mainly the Troad, might be termed “Trojan” in ancient literature.[2] An alternative classical Greek and Latin term was “Teucrians“, a name taken from an ethnicity of the south Troad. Troy was known for its riches gained from port trade with east and west, fancy clothes, iron production, and massive defensive walls. The major language spoken there and the derivative cultures remain uncertain, although some good theories have been proposed. Legend for the most part ignores language and makes the presumption that Trojans had no problem understanding Greek.
The Trojan royal family was started by the Pleiad Electra and Zeus, the parents of Dardanus. Dardanus, who according to Greek myths was originally from Arcadia but according to Roman myths was originally from Italy, crossed over to Asia Minor from the island of Samothrace, where he met King Teucer. Teucer was himself also a coloniser from Attica, and treated Dardanus with respect. Eventually Dardanus married Teucer’s daughters, and founded Dardania (later ruled by Aeneas). Upon Dardanus’ death, the Kingdom was passed to his grandson Tros, who called the people Trojans and the land Troad, after himself. Ilus, son of Tros, founded the city of Ilium (Troy) that he called after himself. Zeus gave Ilus the Palladium. Poseidon and Apollo built the walls and fortifications around Troy for Laomedon, son of Ilus the younger. When Laomedon refused to pay, Poseidon flooded the land and demanded the sacrifice of Hesione to a sea monster. Pestilence came and the sea monster snatched away the people of the plain.
One generation before the Trojan War, Heracles captured Troy and killed Laomedon and his sons, except for young Priam. Priam later became king. During his reign, the Mycenaean Greeks invaded and captured Troy in the Trojan War (traditionally dated to 1193–1183 BC). The Maxyans were a west Libyan tribe who said that they were descended from the men of Troy, according to Herodotus. The Trojan ships transformed into naiads, who rejoiced to see the wreckage of Odysseus‘ ship.
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