History of Troy
The Kingdom of Troy was originally founded about 5000 years ago. Originally a mercantile city, it grew to be one of the world's wealthiest nations by about 1200 BCE. The rulers of Troy until that time gradually added on to their capital and control of the surrounding area. However, the great Trojan War destroyed the capital at the height of its power.
Later on the same site, Romans established a new Troy in 1st century BCE. This city eventually declined and disappeared in the late Byzantine Era.
It is believed that the power of the Kingdom of Troy extended as far South as Pedasus and Mt. Ida and North to Apaesus. It is this region the reestablished Kingdom of Troy claims.
Myth of the Founding of the Royal House of Troy
"Teucer (Τεὓκρος) was the son of the river-god Scamander and Idaea, a nymph of Mount Ida. He was the first king of Troad. Not much is known about Teucer, except that he was the father of Bateia. Dardanus (Δάρδανος) was the son of Zeus and Electra (pictured right), one of the Pleiades, daughter of the Titan Atlas and Pleione. Dardanus was also the brother of Iasion. They were living on the island of Samothrace.
According to most myths, Iasion (Ἰασίων) became the lover of the goddess Demeter, who bore him a son Plutus. The goddess taught Iasion about agriculture. According to Apollodorus, however, Iasion had violated Demeter, so he was struck down by his father's thunderbolt.
Grieving for his brother, Dardanus left Samothrace, and was welcomed by Teucer. Dardanus married Bateia, who bore Dardanus two sons, Ilus and Erichthonius. Dardanus moved to the slop of Mount Ida, where he founded the city of Dardania.
It was said that when Dardanus died, Electra hid her face in her grief. This was to explain that of the seven stars of the Pleiades, Electra's star was the dimmest. Though, the usual myth, say that this dim star was called Merope, Electra's sister, because she was the only sister to mate with a mortal.
Ilus (Ἴλος) became king, first, but he died young and childless, so his younger brother Erichthonius (Ἐριχθόνιος) succeeded him as king of Dardania. This Ilus should not be confused with Ilus who later founded Ilium, which was often called Troy.
Erichthonius had married Astyoche, daughter of the river-god Simöeis (Simoeis), and she bore him a son, who was named Tros (the father of the founding King of Troy). Erichthonius was said to be the richest ruler in the world, at that time, because he owned 3000 mares. Boreas, the god of the north wind, like the mares so much that he turned himself into a black stallion, mating with most of the mare."
While it is an interesting story, the Royal House of Troy is traceable to human descent.
Story from http://www.timelessmyths.com/classical/troy.html#TeucerDardanus.
Legend of the Trojan War
It was told by a seerer to King Priam on the birth of his son Paris that the young prince would lead to the destruction of Troy. Frightened for his people, King Priam sent Paris to live among the shepherds in the mountains.
One day as Paris was tending his sheep, Zeus came down to take Paris to the banquet hall of the gods. Paris was known for fair judgment, and Zeus asked Paris to judge which goddess was the most beautiful to settle the dispute of who should get the golden apple that was engraved "To the Most Beautiful."
In ancient times it was customary to bribe the judge, and whoever had the best bribe won. Hera offered him power, Athena offered him military glory and wisdom, and Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful woman in the world, who it was said could rival Aphrodite herself. Paris imediatly gave the apple to Aphrodite.
Helen was the daughter of Tyndareus and Leda, but Zeus was Helen's real father. (Zeus abducted Leda in the form of a swan. Leda gave birth to an egg, and Helen was hatched from the egg.) Tyndareus refused to allow Helen to marry until all Greeks gave an oath to protect Helen from any insult. After the Greek leaders agreed, Helen married Menelaus King of Sparta, and her mortal twin sister married King Agamemnon of Argos, the brother of Menelaus.
After he gave the apple to Aphrodite, Paris was returned to the royal family, and the prediction of the doom of Troy was forgotten. Paris was sent as an ambassador to Sparta at a time when Menelaus was away, and Helen and Paris fell in love. The two left Sparta with a vast amount of the treasures of Sparta. The Spartans tried to catch up with them, but were unable to. When the Spartans learned of Paris and Helen's return to Troy, the Greeks sent a delegation to retrieve Helen and the treasure. When the Trojans refused, the Greeks appealed to all who took the oath to protect her, and so an army of 1000 ships left to battle the city of Troy.
With more than 10 years of losses, the Greeks devised a plan in a final attempt to capture Troy. They built a huge wooden horse and filled the inside with the Greek army. A single soldier, Sinon, was left behind. When the Trojans asked about the horse, he told them it was an offering to the goddess Athena, and it was made big enough so they could not get it inside the city walls.
Determined to get the horse into the city, the Trojans tore down part of their wall and celebrated the defeat of the Greeks. After everyone in the city fell asleep, the soldiers inside the horse opened the gates and signaled to the main army. The Greeks sacked Troy and desicrated many temples. Although they won the war and Helen was returned to Menelaus, the Greeks suffered the consequences of destroying the temples of the gods, and some would never return home.
