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JJDESIGNS NEWS UPDATE 6[SUP]th[/SUP] FEBRUARY 2023
THE TROJAN WAR
TROY AND HER ALLIES
Traditionally, the Trojan War arose from a sequence of events beginning with a quarrel between the goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. Eris the goddess of discord, was not invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, and so arrived bearing a gift. A golden apple, inscribed “for the fairest”.
Each of the goddesses claimed to be the “fairest”, and the rightful owner of the apple. They submitted the judgement to a shepherd they encountered tending his flock. Each of the goddesses promised the young man a boon in return for his favour. Power, wisdom, or love. The youth, in fact Paris, a Trojan prince who had been raised in the countryside, chose love, and awarded the apple to Aphrodite.
As his reward, Aphrodite caused Helen, the Queen of Sparta, and the most beautiful of all women, to fall in love with Paris.
The judgement of Paris earned him the ire of both Hera and Athena, and when Helen left her husband, Menelaus, the Spartan king, for Paris of Troy, Menelaus called upon all the kings and princes of Greece to wage war upon Troy.
Menelaus’ brother Agamemnon King of Mycenae, led an expedition of Achaean troops to Troy and besieged the city for ten years because of Paris’ insult. After the death of many heroes, including the Achaeans, Achilles, Ajax and the Trojans Hector and Paris, the city fell to the ruse of the Trojan Horse.
The Achaeans slaughtered the Trojans, except for some of the women and children whom they kept or sold as slaves. They desecrated the temples, thus earning the wrath of the gods.
Few of the Achaeans returned safely to their homes, and many founded colonies in distant shores.
The Romans later traced their origin to Aeneas, Aphrodite’s son and one of the Trojans, who was said to have led the surviving Trojans to modern day Italy.
The Trojans, too had their semi-divine heroes and these included Hector (son of Priam), Sarpedon, and Glaucus, which have already been previewed.
The following are some of the new Trojan heroes and allies which are already in development.
AENEAS
Aeneas is a character in the Iliad, where he is twice saved from death by the gods for an as yet unknown destiny, but is an honorable warrior in his own right.
He is the leader of the Trojan’s Dardanian allies, as well as a second cousin and principal lieutenant of Hector, son and heir of the Trojan King Priam.
Having held back from the fighting, aggrieved with Priam because in spite of his brave deeds he was not given his due share of honour, he leads an attack against Idomeneus to recover the body of his brother-in-law Alcathous at the urging of Deiphobus.
The Aeneid explains that Aeneas is one of the few Trojans who were not killed or enslaved when Troy fell. Aeneas, after being commanded by the gods to flee, gathered a group, collectively known as the Aeneads, who then travelled to Italy, and became progenitors of the Romans.
The Aeneads included Aeneas’s trumpeter Misenus, his father Anchises, his friends Achates, Sergestus and Acmon, the healer Lapyx, the helmsman Palinurus and his son Ascanius.
They carried with them the Lares and Penates , the statues of the household gods of Troy, and transplanted them to Italy.
PANDARUS
Pandarus was a Trojan aristocrat and son of Lycaon, who is portrayed as an energetic and powerful warrior as well as a renowned archer. He led a contingent of warriors from Zeleia.
Pandarus first appears in book Two of the Iliad, and in Book Four, he is tricked by Athena, who wishes for the destruction of Troy and assumes the form of Laodocus, son of Antenor, to shoot and wound Menelaus with an arrow, sabotaging a truce that could potentially have led to the peaceful return of Helen.
Pandarus then attempts to kill Diomedes, (who is protected by Athena), who retaliates with a deadly blow that knocks Pandarus out of the chariot.
ASTEROPAEUS
Asteropaeus was a leader of the Trojan allied Paeonians along with fellow warrior Pyraechmes.
He was the son of Pelagon, who was the son of the river god Axios and the mortal woman Periboia daughter of Akessamenos.
Asteropaeous had the distinction in combat of being ambidextrous and would on occasion throw two spears at once. In the Iliad as the Trojans attacked the Achaean wall, he was a leader of the same group of the Lycian warriors with Sarpedon and Glaucus. It was this group which pressed hard enough to allow Hector and his troops to breach the wall.
Later during the siege Achilles is mercilessly slaughtering Trojan warriors alongside the river Scamander, and polluting the water with dead bodies, including one of Priam’s sons, Lycaon.
With the river god Scamander pondering how he might stop Achilles, Achilles in turn attacks Asteropaeous (himself the grandson of a river god) whom Scamander instills with courage to make a stand against Achilles.
Achilles and Asteropaeous engage in combat, Asteropaeous throwing two spears at the same time at Achilles. One spear hits Achilles’ shield, while the other hits the right forearm of Achilles and draws blood.
Asteropaeous was the only Trojan in the Iliad who was able to draw blood from Achilles.
However he fails to kill Achilles and is slain.
Achilles is to boast that though Asteropaeous may be descended from a river god, that he, Achilles, is descended from a mightier god, Zeus.
Later, in the funeral games for the slain Patroclus, the bronze and tin corslet, and the silver studded swords of Asteropaeous are awarded as prizes.
PYRAECHMES
Pyraechmes along with Asteropaeous, was a leader of the Paeonian allies in the Trojan War.
He came from the city of Amydon.
Pyraechmes was killed in battle by Patroclus, who was dressed in Achilles armour.
CYCNUS OF KOLONAI
Cycnus was the king of the town of Kolonai in the southern Troad. He was the son of Poseidon by Calyce. (daughter of Hecaton).
Legend tells that he was abandoned by his mother on the seashore, but was rescued by fishermen who named him Cycnus “swan” because they saw a swan flying over him.
Other accounts, he is said to have had womanly white skin and fair hair, which is why he received his name that meant “swan”.
Cycnus supported the Trojans and was a great warrior, killing one thousand opponents.
According to some accounts he killed the Greek hero Protesilaus.
It was said that being the son of Poseidon, he was invulnerable to spear and sword attacks. When Achilles confronted Cycnus he could not kill him via conventional weaponry so he crushed and suffocated him.
After his death Cycnus was changed into a swan.
EURYPYLUS - PRINCE OF MYSIA
Euryplus was the son of Telephus, King of Mysia. He was a great warrior, who led a Mysian contingent that fought alongside the Trojans against the Greeks in the Trojan War.
In a prelude to the Trojan War, the Greeks attacked Mysia, mistaking it for Troy. Eurypylus’ father Telephus was wounded by Achilles and later, when his wound continued to fester, was also healed by Achilles. According to some accounts, because of this, Telephus promised that neither he nor his familt would aid the Trojans in the coming war.
Nevertheless, during the final stages of the war, between the death of Achilles, and the ruse of the Trojan horse, Eurypylus led a large Mysian force to fight on the side of Troy. Some accounts state that Priam obtained Eurypylus’ aid in the war by giving his mother Astyoche a golden vine, or by promising Eurypylus one of his daughters as a wife.
Eurypylus was a great warrior and killed many opponents, including Machaon, Nireus, and Peneleus.
Neoptolemus finally killed Eurypylus, using the same spear that his father Achilles had used to both wound and heal Eurypylus’ father Telephus.
Homer has Odysseus say that Eurypylus was, next to Memnon, the most beautiful man he had ever seen, and there were nearly one hundred lines of the poem devoted to a detailed description of Eurypylus’ shield, which was adorned with depictions of the twelve labours of Hercules.
Dressed for battle, Eurypylus "seemed the War-god".
THE TROJAN WAR
TROY AND HER ALLIES
Traditionally, the Trojan War arose from a sequence of events beginning with a quarrel between the goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. Eris the goddess of discord, was not invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, and so arrived bearing a gift. A golden apple, inscribed “for the fairest”.
Each of the goddesses claimed to be the “fairest”, and the rightful owner of the apple. They submitted the judgement to a shepherd they encountered tending his flock. Each of the goddesses promised the young man a boon in return for his favour. Power, wisdom, or love. The youth, in fact Paris, a Trojan prince who had been raised in the countryside, chose love, and awarded the apple to Aphrodite.
As his reward, Aphrodite caused Helen, the Queen of Sparta, and the most beautiful of all women, to fall in love with Paris.
The judgement of Paris earned him the ire of both Hera and Athena, and when Helen left her husband, Menelaus, the Spartan king, for Paris of Troy, Menelaus called upon all the kings and princes of Greece to wage war upon Troy.
Menelaus’ brother Agamemnon King of Mycenae, led an expedition of Achaean troops to Troy and besieged the city for ten years because of Paris’ insult. After the death of many heroes, including the Achaeans, Achilles, Ajax and the Trojans Hector and Paris, the city fell to the ruse of the Trojan Horse.
The Achaeans slaughtered the Trojans, except for some of the women and children whom they kept or sold as slaves. They desecrated the temples, thus earning the wrath of the gods.
Few of the Achaeans returned safely to their homes, and many founded colonies in distant shores.
The Romans later traced their origin to Aeneas, Aphrodite’s son and one of the Trojans, who was said to have led the surviving Trojans to modern day Italy.
The Trojans, too had their semi-divine heroes and these included Hector (son of Priam), Sarpedon, and Glaucus, which have already been previewed.
The following are some of the new Trojan heroes and allies which are already in development.
AENEAS
Aeneas is a character in the Iliad, where he is twice saved from death by the gods for an as yet unknown destiny, but is an honorable warrior in his own right.
He is the leader of the Trojan’s Dardanian allies, as well as a second cousin and principal lieutenant of Hector, son and heir of the Trojan King Priam.
Having held back from the fighting, aggrieved with Priam because in spite of his brave deeds he was not given his due share of honour, he leads an attack against Idomeneus to recover the body of his brother-in-law Alcathous at the urging of Deiphobus.
The Aeneid explains that Aeneas is one of the few Trojans who were not killed or enslaved when Troy fell. Aeneas, after being commanded by the gods to flee, gathered a group, collectively known as the Aeneads, who then travelled to Italy, and became progenitors of the Romans.
The Aeneads included Aeneas’s trumpeter Misenus, his father Anchises, his friends Achates, Sergestus and Acmon, the healer Lapyx, the helmsman Palinurus and his son Ascanius.
They carried with them the Lares and Penates , the statues of the household gods of Troy, and transplanted them to Italy.
PANDARUS
Pandarus was a Trojan aristocrat and son of Lycaon, who is portrayed as an energetic and powerful warrior as well as a renowned archer. He led a contingent of warriors from Zeleia.
Pandarus first appears in book Two of the Iliad, and in Book Four, he is tricked by Athena, who wishes for the destruction of Troy and assumes the form of Laodocus, son of Antenor, to shoot and wound Menelaus with an arrow, sabotaging a truce that could potentially have led to the peaceful return of Helen.
Pandarus then attempts to kill Diomedes, (who is protected by Athena), who retaliates with a deadly blow that knocks Pandarus out of the chariot.
ASTEROPAEUS
Asteropaeus was a leader of the Trojan allied Paeonians along with fellow warrior Pyraechmes.
He was the son of Pelagon, who was the son of the river god Axios and the mortal woman Periboia daughter of Akessamenos.
Asteropaeous had the distinction in combat of being ambidextrous and would on occasion throw two spears at once. In the Iliad as the Trojans attacked the Achaean wall, he was a leader of the same group of the Lycian warriors with Sarpedon and Glaucus. It was this group which pressed hard enough to allow Hector and his troops to breach the wall.
Later during the siege Achilles is mercilessly slaughtering Trojan warriors alongside the river Scamander, and polluting the water with dead bodies, including one of Priam’s sons, Lycaon.
With the river god Scamander pondering how he might stop Achilles, Achilles in turn attacks Asteropaeous (himself the grandson of a river god) whom Scamander instills with courage to make a stand against Achilles.
Achilles and Asteropaeous engage in combat, Asteropaeous throwing two spears at the same time at Achilles. One spear hits Achilles’ shield, while the other hits the right forearm of Achilles and draws blood.
Asteropaeous was the only Trojan in the Iliad who was able to draw blood from Achilles.
However he fails to kill Achilles and is slain.
Achilles is to boast that though Asteropaeous may be descended from a river god, that he, Achilles, is descended from a mightier god, Zeus.
Later, in the funeral games for the slain Patroclus, the bronze and tin corslet, and the silver studded swords of Asteropaeous are awarded as prizes.
PYRAECHMES
Pyraechmes along with Asteropaeous, was a leader of the Paeonian allies in the Trojan War.
He came from the city of Amydon.
Pyraechmes was killed in battle by Patroclus, who was dressed in Achilles armour.
CYCNUS OF KOLONAI
Cycnus was the king of the town of Kolonai in the southern Troad. He was the son of Poseidon by Calyce. (daughter of Hecaton).
Legend tells that he was abandoned by his mother on the seashore, but was rescued by fishermen who named him Cycnus “swan” because they saw a swan flying over him.
Other accounts, he is said to have had womanly white skin and fair hair, which is why he received his name that meant “swan”.
Cycnus supported the Trojans and was a great warrior, killing one thousand opponents.
According to some accounts he killed the Greek hero Protesilaus.
It was said that being the son of Poseidon, he was invulnerable to spear and sword attacks. When Achilles confronted Cycnus he could not kill him via conventional weaponry so he crushed and suffocated him.
After his death Cycnus was changed into a swan.
EURYPYLUS - PRINCE OF MYSIA
Euryplus was the son of Telephus, King of Mysia. He was a great warrior, who led a Mysian contingent that fought alongside the Trojans against the Greeks in the Trojan War.
In a prelude to the Trojan War, the Greeks attacked Mysia, mistaking it for Troy. Eurypylus’ father Telephus was wounded by Achilles and later, when his wound continued to fester, was also healed by Achilles. According to some accounts, because of this, Telephus promised that neither he nor his familt would aid the Trojans in the coming war.
Nevertheless, during the final stages of the war, between the death of Achilles, and the ruse of the Trojan horse, Eurypylus led a large Mysian force to fight on the side of Troy. Some accounts state that Priam obtained Eurypylus’ aid in the war by giving his mother Astyoche a golden vine, or by promising Eurypylus one of his daughters as a wife.
Eurypylus was a great warrior and killed many opponents, including Machaon, Nireus, and Peneleus.
Neoptolemus finally killed Eurypylus, using the same spear that his father Achilles had used to both wound and heal Eurypylus’ father Telephus.
Homer has Odysseus say that Eurypylus was, next to Memnon, the most beautiful man he had ever seen, and there were nearly one hundred lines of the poem devoted to a detailed description of Eurypylus’ shield, which was adorned with depictions of the twelve labours of Hercules.
Dressed for battle, Eurypylus "seemed the War-god".
