Re: Odin as a Trojan Prince

--- In cybalist@..., tgpedersen@... wrote:

> --- In cybalist@..., MrCaws@... wrote:
> > --- In cybalist@..., cas111jd@... wrote:
> >
> > Myth is filled with
> > legendary half-truths that aren't usually accurate in a

historical

> > snese, but nonetheless have an underlying factual basis of some
> >
> > Aeneas makes a good case and point. The tradition making Aeneas

the

> > legendary patriarch of Rome etc. is obviously not historical

fact.

> > Connections between the Romans and Trojans are pretty
> > fanciful.However, the Etruscans, whatever you believe about them,
> >did
> > have significant cultural influence(maybe more than that) from W
> > Anatolia. If you notice that the Roman culture borrowed a lot of
> > their ideas from the Etruscans, it seems not unlikely that this
> >tale
> > might refer to the good old Rasna, retouched to meet Roman
> >needs.That
> > there is some truth there, even if it is obscured by its

legendary

> > nature and nationalistic sentiment. Skeptics might look at the

part

> > discussing how some of Aeneas' companions ended up settling at
> > Sardinia. Connections between Etruscans and Sardinia are pretty
> > numerous. Of course, theis is not to say that Aeneas was an

actual

> > guy, but is shows how similar traditions can have something to

say

> >if
> > looked at critially.
> Connections between Etruscans and Carthage also abound. There's

your

> Dido episode.

True that. In fact, Carthage and Etruria did have a sort of stormy
love affair, often allies, sometimes enemies.
The Sardinia incident is mentioned in a more off-handed way, which
is why it looks more like unadulterated pseudo-history than the
heavily dramaticized Dido incident. Plus,

> If he was actual, he might have spoken a form of Lemnian. That

would

> make him an Etruscan on arrival in Italy. So the Aeneas story is

the

> story of an Etruscan founding the city of Rome (or of Etruria?)

Yes, I would say the latter. I don't buy Aeneas as a single person,
or even a single incoming wave of people, but as an influential group
of traders that catalyzed the rise of Etruria, sure, I buy that. In
fact, it's pretty much my favorite theory.

-Mr. Caws