Troy: Ancient Roman pilgrimage and vacation spot

[guy]

Troy was special to the Romans because they believed it was their ancestral homeland: the place from which Aeneas fled to found the line that led to Romulus, Remus, and Rome itself. That mythic connection made Troy a site of identity, legitimacy, and imperial propaganda.

An excellent article in “Archaeology” magazine explored the popularity of the ancient city of Troy in the ancient world. The article, by Ben O’Donnell, “Trojan Tourist Trap,” examined how Troy became a vacation spot and pilgrimage destination for the Romans.

Troy was special to the Romans because they believed it was their ancestral homeland. After Troy fell, Aeneas eventually founded the line that led to Romulus, Remus, and Rome itself. That mythic connection made Troy a site of Roman identity.

 

The denarius shown above depicts “Aeneas Carrying Anchises.” It is a late Republican silver coin struck for Julius Caesar in 47–46 BC and portrays one of the most powerful scenes in Roman myth: the Trojan hero Aeneas escaping the burning city, carrying his aged father Anchises on his shoulders and the sacred Palladium, a symbol of divine protection.

The Palladium on this coin is the small statue Aeneas holds in his right hand as he carries his father, Anchises, on his shoulders. It’s a tiny, upright figure—usually depicted with a spear and shield—representing the sacred image of Pallas Athena, which, according to legend, protected Troy. By depicting Aeneas rescuing it from the burning city, the coin signals that Troy’s divine protection passed to Rome, reinforcing Julius Caesar’s claim to Trojan and divine ancestry.

 

https://archaeology.org/issues/may-june-2026/collection/trojan-tourist-trap/the-unexpected-world-of-the-odyssey/

Here’s a previous post about the Greek city of Sparta as a Roman theme park vacation spot:

 

 

Edited May 23 by guy

[guidoLaMoto]

Caesar, as a member of the Julian clan, claimed descent from Aeneas and thus Venus. Modern genetic analysis does indicate that inhabitants of central Italy trace ancestry back to Anatolia (although evidence of a genetic connection to Mt Olympus remains unsubstantiated).

The Greeks called the famous city Ilion (hence the name of the epic poem - the Iliad), while the Hittites, neighbors to the east, apparently called it "Wilusia." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy Both names are dominated by the "L" sound. Neither have a "T or Tr" component.

OTOH- While Livy refers to the home of Aeneas as Troia, he also states that after escaping Troy, his entourage first landed at the northern most bay of the Adriatic and established camp in the land between the sea and the Alps- "Troia vocatur" (Troy it is called.) https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0169%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D1 From there, as the story goes. Aeneas eventually wandered to Macedonia, then Sicily, eventually to Carthage before settling in Latium.....

...So- was the city defeated in the Iliad really also called Troy and Aeneas' first colony should have been called New Troy, or was Ilion referred to by later authors exercising poetic license as Troy?