TROAD
/ TROAS
The
Troad or Troas was the peninsula region at the far north-western
corner of Anatolia, formed by the territory to the north of the
island of Lesbos, eastwards to Mount Ida, and then roughly in a
direct line north to the Dardanelles where it meets the Sea of Marmara,
opposite the shores of Thrace. Mysia, also part of the region, lay
to the immediate east. It gained its name from the principle city
in the region, Troy, which could also have been the Wilusa of Hittite
records. Dardania could be included within this region.
Wilusa
in the thirteenth century was a member of the Assuwa (or Assua),
a confederacy of local minor states which probably included the
states of the Troad and which had traditionally been allied to the
Hittites. The states or tribes which inhabited the region around
this time were mostly remembered in Greek stories which include
The Iliad, covering the events of the Trojan War. While the details
may be fictional, or at least clouded by several centuries of oral
tradition, they probably remember key figures in the war. Following
the war the Phrygians, who had recently settled to the south-west
between about 1450-1200 BC, took control of the region, but by the
sixth century the entire Aegean Coast of Anatolia had been Æolised,
or occupied by Æolic Greeks.
(Additional
information from External Link: the Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Geography, William Smith (Ed, 1854).)
Halizones
/ Alazones :
Listed
in the Trojan order of battle, the origin of the Halizones is unknown.
Homer says they came from 'Alybe far away, where is the birthplace
of silver'. Suggestions include reading Alybe as Chalybe, which
would make them Chalybes, a group who settled in northern Anatolia
on the shores of the Black Sea between the Halys and Trabzon. Related
to the eastern Khaldi (of later Urartu) who neighboured the Hatti,
they are thought to be early Georgians. Chalybe could also derive
from Hittite 'Khaly-wa', or 'land of Hatys', which would serve to
confirm the theory. In addition, while Palaephatus places the Halizones
in Mysia, Homer elsewhere called Odius the chief of the Paphlagonians,
again placing them in north-eastern Anatolia. It seems likely that
the Halizones moved into the region at the same time that Paphlagonia
emerged, displacing or subsuming the Kaskans (although they are
placed here for convenience).
c.1180s
BC :
Mecisteus
: Ruler?
Odius
: Son. Chief of the Paphlagonians?
c.1193
- 1183 BC :
Odius
and Epistrophus, sons of Mecisteus, lead the contingent of Halizones
to the Trojan War on the side of Troy.
Hyrtacidae
:
The Hyrtacidae were related by royal marriage to the rulers of Percote,
and probably lived somewhere relatively close to that city. This
is the most obscure element in the list of Trojan allies because
the state or settlement to which Hyrtacus and his people belonged
was not listed in the order of battle, or it has since been lost.
Probably due to the close relationship between it and Percote, the
king's son was given the honour of leading the Percote contingent
to Troy, which was made up of troops from Abydus, Arisbe, Practius,
and Sestus. The Hyrtacidae were neither Trojan nor Dardanian, and
Sestus is frequently included as a Thracian city state, so that
Asius is often shown in lists of Thracian rulers, perhaps rightfully
so.
Hyrtacus
: Comrade of Priam of Troy. Name perhaps of Cretan origin.
Hyrtacus marries Arisbe, daughter of Merops of Percote.
fl
c.1180s BC :
Asius
: Son.
c.1193
- 1183 BC :
Asius, together with his sons, Adamas and Phaenops, leads the contingent
from Percote to the Trojan War on the side of Troy. This
ruler is frequently shown as a generalised Thracian leader, and
seems to have fought alongside the Thracians during the war.
Kolonae
/ Colonae :
Kolonae was a city in the Troad which stood 140 stadia south of
Ilium (Troy), and which was an ally during the Trojan War. The name
Colonae probably stems from 'col' or 'calach' for an eminence, and
the term was generally used in Anatolia to denote a fortress.
c.1230s
BC :
Stheneleus
c.1230s
- 1183 BC :
Cygnus
/ Kyknos : m Prokleia, a daughter of Laomedon of Troy.
c.1193
- 1183 BC :
Cygnus (whom some sources acquaint with the historical Kikunni of
Troy) leads the Kolonaean contingent to the Trojan War on
the side of Troy. While invulnerable to weapons thanks to Poseidon,
Cygnus is still killed by Achilles of Phthia (and transformed into
a swan by Poseidon).
Larissa
:
A 'deep-soiled' Pelasgian settlement which provided spearmen to
Troy in the Trojan War, Larissa was a common name for Pelasgian
towns or cities. This example was probably founded by wandering
tribesmen who settled in different parts of the Anatolian coast
before the war. The names of its rulers were thoroughly Hellenised,
seemingly already by the time of Homer around the eighth century
BC, so that no Pelasgian naming elements survived.
Strabo expresses the opinion that the Larissa that some sources
quote for the city is not the one mentioned by Homer in The Iliad.
That was said to have been far from Troy and not inside the Troad,
so although Larissa is not a Troad city, it is located here for
convenience. In all likelihood, especially given the names of its
rulers and their close familial links with the ruling family of
Pelasgiotis, it was probably the Larissa of Thessaly.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from
The Iliad, Homer (Translated by E V Rieu, Penguin Books,
1963), from the Argonautica, Apollonius Rhodius (3rd century
BC Greek epic poem), and from External Links: Geography,
Strabo (H C Hamilton & W Falconer, London, 1903, Perseus Online
Edition), and The Greeks really do have near-mythical origins, ancient
DNA reveals (Science).)
fl
c.1200 BC :
Teutamides
/ Teutamus : Pelasgian king of Pelasgiotis.
Lethus
: Son.
c.1180s
BC :
Hippothous
: Son. Killed at Troy.
c.1180s
BC :
Pylaeus
: Brother. Killed at Troy.
c.1193
- 1183 BC :
As Mycenae declares war on Troy, Priam of Troy musters his multinational
swathe of allies, many of which don't even speak the same tongue.
These include contingents of Pelasgians from several locations in
western Anatolia including Larissa - even many Greek writers later
label the Pelasgian language 'barbaric' and state that it is not
Greek. Two such Pelasgian heroes are Hippothous and Pylaeus, sons
of Lethus whose own brother is Nasus, last Pelasgian king of Pelasgiotis.
Hippothous is killed by Ajax during the fight for the body of Patroclus,
and Pylaeus seemingly alongside him.
![First Theatre of Larissa](Larissa_Theatre01_full.jpg)
The
ruins of the third century BC theatre of Larissa are not Pelasgian
as such, as there is little remaining that could be categorically
attributed to them
In
the Iliad, the Achaeans beach their ships in the final year of the
conflict and set up camp near the mouth of the River Scamander (modern
Karamenderes, five kilometres further inland than today, pouring
into a bay). The city of Troy itself stands on a hill, across the
plain of Scamander, which is where the battles of the Trojan
War take place. After fighting to a stalemate, the Mycenaeans
finally enter and sack Troy.
Lyrnessos
:
This was a city in the Troad which was situated to the south-east
of Mount Ida. According to legend, Achilles of Phthia made a 'great
foray' to the south of Mount Ida where he attacked twenty-four cities,
including Lyrnessos, which he sacked, killing the king, Mynes. Homer
relates that Achilles took the late king's wife, Briseis, as his
concubine, only for Agamemnon of Mycenae to take her for himself
when he had to hand back his own concubine to her father. This began
a feud between the two which only the death of Patroclus ended.
?
- c.1183 BC :
Selepos
Eunor
/ Eunos : Son.
Mynes
: Killed by Achilles of Phthia.
?
- c.1183 BC :
Epistrophos
: Son or joint ruler?
c.1183
BC :
The death of Mynes and the sacking of the city knocks Lyrnessos
out of the Trojan War so that it is not able to send a force
to support its ally, Troy.
Percote
:
This was a small city on the Anatolian coast of the Hellespont,
situated to the north-east of Troy. It receives more than one mention
in Greek mythology, but never plays a major role, and it was not
even in existence by the time of Strabo (63 BC - around AD 24).
Apparently its people and those of the closely related Hyrtacidae
were neither Trojan nor Dardanian and may perhaps have been Thracian
instead. The city also commanded peoples from Abydus, Arisbe, Practius,
& Sestus, and the forces they supplied to the Trojan War were
led by Asius of the Hyrtacidae, while the two sons of Merops led
contingents from Adresteia, Apaesus, Mount Tereia, and Pityeia,
perhaps without the permission of their father, as he did his best
to dissuade them.
Merops
: Seer and ruler.
According to Greek legend, Merops is father to Arisbe (the first
wife of Priam of Troy, who latter marries Hyrtacus of the Hyrtacidae),
Cleite, and two sons, Amphius and Adrastus.
fl
c.1180s BC :
Adrastus
/ Adrastes : Son. Killed at Troy.
fl
c.1180s BC :
Amphius?
: Brother. Killed at Troy.
c.1193
- 1183 BC :
Amphius and Adrastus lead units from Adresteia, Apaesus, Mount Tereia,
and Pityeia, to the Trojan War on the side of Troy, and fight
alongside the Percote contingent which is commanded by the Hyrtacidae.
Zeleia
:
Zeleia was a Trojan city in the Troad, located at the foot of Mount
Ida. It was considered to be holy to Artemis, a tradition which
continued into the Classical period. Its people are later linked
to Lycia in the south, and may be the result of an earlier division
of that people, although there is no proof of that.
Lykaon
/ Lycaon
?
- c.1183 BC :
Pandarosmid
/ Pandarus : Son.
c.1193
- 1183 BC :
Pandarus, skilled with the bow, leads the contingent from Zeleia
to the Trojan War on the side of Troy. After sabotaging a
truce by wounding Menelaus of Sparta, he is killed by Diomedes of
Argos when a spear hits him in the face, severing his tongue.
Source
:
https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/
KingListsMiddEast/
AnatoliaTroad.htm