Picture Credits
1. Artist’s Reconstruction of Troy; © by Christoph Haußner, München
2. Attic red-figure stemless cup, depicting Diomedes stealing the magic Palladium, a statue of Pallas Athena, from Apulia, late 5th century BC (pottery); Bridgeman Images.
3. Hercules Rescuing Hesione, Charles Le Brun, Etching, 1713–19; Artokoloro / Alamy Stock Photo.
4. ‘We to those beasts, that rapid strode along, drew near, when Chiron took an arrow forth’, Gustave Doré, c.1890; The Print Collector / Alamy Stock Photo.
5. Procession of Thetis, accompanied by two cupids and preceded by a Fortune, whose sail billows with favourable winds, Bartolomeo di Giovanni, 1490; Lanmas / Alamy.
6. The Marriage of Thetis and Peleus with Apollo and the Concert of the Muses, or The Feast of the Gods, Hendrick van Balen, ca. 1618; ACTIVE MUSEUM / Alamy.
7. The Judgement of Paris, Peter Paul Rubens, 1638; Prado Museum / Alamy.
8. Helen of Troy, Antonio Canova; Tades Yee / Alamy Stock Photo.
9. Bust of Menelaus, King of Ancient Sparta, Husband of Helen; Vatican Museum, Alinari / Bridgeman Images.
10. Leda and Swan, Cesare Mussini; De Agostini Picture Library / Bridgeman Images.
11. Thetis dipping Achilles into the Styx, Antoine Borel Rogat; © A. Dagli Orti / De Agostini Picture Library / Bridgeman Images.
12. The Education of Achilles, James Barry, c.1772; Paul Mellon Fund / Bridgeman Images.
13. Cassandra, Daughter of Priam, Prophetess of Fall of Troy; Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys; © The Maas Gallery, London / Bridgeman Images.
14. The Abduction of Helen, Guido Reni, c.1626–31; Louvre / Bridgeman Images.
15. Ulysses (Odysseus) Feigning Madness, c.19th C, gravure; © Look and Learn / Bridgeman Images.
16. The Sacrifice of Iphigenia, François Perrier, 1632–33; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon, France / Alamy.
17. Marble bust of Homer, Hellenistic period (330–20 BC); Musei Capitolini, Rome / Bridgeman.
18. Greek Armada Lands On Trojan Beach in Troy, directed By Wolfgang Petersen, Film Company Warner Bros; © Warner Bros / AF archive / Alamy.
19. Attic black-figure amphora depicting Achilles and Ajax playing dice, c.540–530 BC; Vatican / Bridgeman.
20. Troilus and Cressida, from the Kelmscott Chaucer, designed by William Morris; Lebrecht Authors / Bridgeman Images.
21. The Farewell of Achilles and of Briseis, detail of fresco from Casa del Poeta Tragico, Pompeii, 1st century AD; Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples / Luisa Ricciarini / Bridgeman.
22. The Combat of Diomedes, Jacques Louis David, 1776; Albertina, Vienna / Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy.
23. Ajax attacks Hector, detail from the outside of an Attic red-figure cup (The Douris Cup), made by Kalliades, c.490 BC; Louvre / Bridgeman.
24. Menelaus holding the body of Patroclus, Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence; History / David Henley / Bridgeman.
25. Achilles dragging Hector’s body around the walls of Troy, Donato Creti; Musee Massey, Tarbes, France / Bridgeman.
26. Roman silver-gilt drinking cup depicting King Priam of Troy appealing to Achilles for the return of his son Hector’s body, found in a chieftain’s grave at Hoby, Denmark, 1st century BC; Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen / Bridgeman.
27. The Wounded Achilles, Filippo Albacini, 1825; © The Devonshire Collections, Chatsworth / Reproduced by permission of Chatsworth Settlement Trustees / Bridgeman Images.
28. Shield of Achilles, Philip Rundell, 1821–22; Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2020.
29. Laocoön and His Sons Attacked by the Serpents, Roman marble, 2nd Century BC; Vatican Museums / Agefotostock / Alamy.
30. The Sack of Troy, Jean Maublanc; Besançon, Musée Des Beaux-Art Et D’Archéologie / G. Dagli Orti /De Agostini Picture Library / Bridgeman.
31. The Killing of Priam, Antonio Canova, 1787–90; Fondazione Cariplo, Milan / © Mauro Ranzani / Bridgeman Images.
Introductory Note
The birth and rise of gods and humans is the subject of my book Mythos, whose successor Heroes covers the great feats, quests and adventures of mortal heroes such as Perseus, Heracles, Jason and Theseus. You do not have to know those books to enjoy this one; when I have judged it useful, I provide footnote references pointing to where fuller details of incidents and characters can be found in the previous two volumes, but no pre-existing knowledge of the Greek mythological world is presumed or required for you to embark on Troy. As I remind you from time to time, especially early on in the book, do not think for a minute that you have to remember all those names, places and familial interrelationships. To give background, I do describe the founding of many different dynasties and kingdoms; but I assure you that, when it comes to the main action, the different threads turn from a tangle into a tapestry. A two-part Appendix at the back of the book addresses the issue of how much of what follows is history and how much myth.
It Fell from Heaven
Troy. The most marvellous kingdom in all the world. The Jewel of the Aegean. Glittering Ilium, the city that rose and fell not once but twice. Gatekeeper of traffic in and out of the barbarous east. Kingdom of gold and horses. Fierce nurse of prophets, princes, heroes, warriors and poets. Under the protection of ARES, ARTEMIS, APOLLO and APHRODITE she stood for years as the paragon of all that can be achieved in the arts of war and peace, trade and treaty, love and art, statecraft, piety and civil harmony. When she fell, a hole opened in the human world that may never be filled, save in memory. Poets must sing the story over and over again, passing it from generation to generation, lest in losing Troy we lose a part of ourselves.
To understand Troy’s end we must understand her beginning. The background to our story has many twists and turns. A host of place names, personalities and families enter and exit. It is not necessary to remember every name, every relationship of blood and marriage, every kingdom and province. The story emerges and the important names will, I promise, stick.
All things, Troy included, begin and end with ZEUS, the King of the Gods, Ruler of Olympus, Lord of Thunder, Cloud-Gatherer and Bringer of Storms.
Long, long ago, almost before the dawn of mortal history, Zeus consorted with Electra, a beautiful daughter of the Titan Atlas and the sea nymph Pleione. Electra bore Zeus a son, DARDANUS, who travelled throughout Greece and the islands of the Aegean searching for a place in which he could build and raise his own dynasty. He alighted at last on the Ionian coast. If you have never visited Ionia, you should know that it is the land east of the Aegean Sea which used to be called Asia Minor, but which we know as Turkish Anatolia. The great kingdoms of Phrygia and Lydia were there, but they were already occupied and ruled over, so it was in the north that Dardanus settled, occupying the peninsula that lies below the Hellespont, the straits into which Helle fell from the back of the golden ram. Years later JASON would sail through the Hellespont on his way to find the fleece of that ram. The lovestruck Leander would swim nightly across the Hellespont to be with Hero, his beloved.fn1
The city Dardanus established was called – with little imagination and less modesty – Dardanus, while the whole kingdom took on the name Dardania.fn2 Following the founder king’s death, Ilus, the eldest of his three sons, ruled – but he died childless, leaving the throne to his brother, the middle son, ERICHTHONIUS.fn3