The Ethnicity of the Sea Peoples - RePub - Erasmus Universiteit ...

11. THE AENEAS’ SAGA: ETRUSCAN ORIGINS IN PARVO
If we are right in our conclusion that Luwian population
groups from western Asia Minor colonized Etruria in the
late 8th or early 7th century BC, there may also well be a
kernel of truth in the colonization by Trojans of the coastal
region of Latium as transmitted to us by the famous Aeneas’
saga.
According to Vergilius’ version of this myth, the Trojans
set out with 20 ships from Antandros, which lies at the
northern side of the same bay that also harbors Smyrna –
the starting point, as we have seen, of the Lydians in their
colonization of Etruria according to Herodotos. From here,
they first go to the Thracian coast, where they build a city
called Aeneadae after their leader Aeneas (in Hellanikos’
version this first stopping place is specified as Pallene in
Khalkidike). 311 Next, the journey proceeds via Delos to
Crete, where again the Trojans build a city, this time called
Pergamea after Pergama – an alternative name of their
hometown Troy. After this intermezzo, they move on to
the realm of Hellenus in Chaonia, Epirus, which is inhabited
by kinsmen who likewise escaped from Troy after the
fall of the city at the end of the Trojan war. 312 Sailing
along the eastern coast of Italy and Sicily, their next major
stopping place is the realm of Acestes in the region of Eryx
and Segesta, northwest Sicily, where, just like in Chaonia,
the population consists of kinsmen from Troy. As a matter
of fact, in the part of the trip between Crete and Sicily the
main concern of the expedition is to avoid the hostile
Greek settlements along the shores and on the islands of
the Ionian sea. After their stay with Acestes, Aeneas and
his companions are driven by a storm to the coast of Africa,
where they visit Carthago, the town newly founded
by Phoenicians from Tyre under the leadership of queen
Dido. 313 From here, they return to the realm of Acestes in
Sicily, where games are held in honor of Aeneas’ father
Anchises, who had died there during their first stay. 314 Finally,
after a visit of the underworld in the region of the
311 Fragmente der griechischen Historiker 4 F 31; cf. Galinsky
1969: 111-2.
312 Vergilius, Aeneid III.
313 Vergilius, Aeneid I; IV.
314 Vergilius, Aeneid V.
89
Euboeian colony Cumae, 315 Aeneas and his Trojan colonists
reach their final destination, Latium at the mouth of
the Tiber. 316
Having pitched their camp in Latium, there evolves a
war with the local population, who want to get rid of the
intruders. The war entails a truly epic coalition of forces.
On the side of the Latins fight the Caeretan king Mezentius
with his son Lausus, who had been driven out of their
hometown and had taken refuge with the Rutulians,
Aventinus with followers from the Aventine hill, Catillus
and Corus with followers from Tibur, Caeculus with followers
from Praeneste, Messapus with Faliscan Aequi,
Clausus with Sabins, Halaesus with Osci from the region
of Cales and the Volturnus, Oebalus with Teleboans from
Capri, Ufens with Aequiculi, Umbro from the Marsian
hills, Virbius from Egeria’s woods, Camilla with Volsci,
Volcens with Latins, and Turnus with his Rutulians. 317
The help of the Greek hero Diomedes (Aeneas’ foe in the
Trojan war), residing at Arpi, is called upon, but he refuses
to join in. On the side of the Trojans fight Evander with his
Arcadians, declared enemies of the Latins, Tarchon with
an Etruscan army of undetermined origin, Massicus with
followers from Clusium and Cosae, Abas with men from
Populonia and Elba, Asilas with men from Pisae, Astyr
with followers from Caere, Pyrgi and Graviscae, Cinyrus
with Ligurians, and Ocnus and Aulestis with an army from
Mantua. In sum, this basically Etruscan coalition is reported
to comprise 30 ships. 318 The war ends with the
death of the leader of the Italic coalition, Turnus, by the
hand of the Trojan leader, Aeneas. (In the version by Dionysios
of Halikarnassos, Aeneas – who is married with
Latinus’ daughter Lavinia and rules both the Trojans and
the Latins at the time of the war with the Rutulians and
Mezentius – simply disappears, and the Latins subsequently
build a hero-shrine for him.) 319 In the course of the
following peace, preluded to in Vergilius’ version of the
myth, the native Latins will not change their name into
315 Vergilius, Aeneid VI.
316 Vergilius, Aeneid VII.
317 Vergilius, Aeneid VII, 647-817; IX, 367-70.
318 Vergilius, Aeneid X, 146-214.
319 Roman Antiquities I, 64.