John Piscopo wrote
> I just received the following email from Alex Moeller of the
> Cybalist group, a most interesting story. As I am a historian and
> not a linguist, I would like to pose a few questions that might
> shed some heat or light on the subject if anyone has some answers:
>
> I. The Trojan War is traditionally dated to about 1225 BC +/- 25
> years, a 475 year gap in which there was no literacy and no '
> record keeping.
> II. There are traces of Anatolian origin for the neighboring
> Etruscans in their Tyrhennian language related to Lemnian but
> the Latin language is clearly within the Italic branch of the
> Indo European Familiy of languages.
> III. There is no real History of Rome before the Etruscans in any
> documents anywhere and the hills of Latium before 500 BC
> when the area was a provincial backwater at best.
> IV. No artifacts have been found and published from Latium that
> would indicate any Anatolian Bronze Age Trojan diasporan
> colonists.
> V. Stesichoros even being an early Greek poet still lived 600
> years after the Trojan War when Homer's Ilian was already
> current throughout the Hellenic Greek area. He would not
> have known of any Italic villages in Latium under Etruscan
> suzreinty nor have any real information of their cosmology or
> religious systems.
> VI. Rome became important to the world long after its founding, the
> early knowledge of the Romans that we have all comes from
> Roman sources.
> VII.Virgil's Aenead was composed during the reign of Augustus (31
> BC - 14 AD) and his source materials would have ONLY been
> Homer and the various fictional dramas and tragedies. He
> composed his work to give Rome greater antiquity and show a
> more honorable lineage for the Romans, including Octavian,
> his patron.
> VIII.None of the above is evidence that Roma did not found Rome,
> only questions whether it is possible or if there is any
> evidence that she did.
Regarding the founding of Rome, the legend was that Aeneas, son of
Anchises and Venus escaped burning Troy, was involved with Dido of
Carthage, and settled in Italy to found Lavinium (Latinium). His
son, Ascanius, whom the Romans called Iulus (from whence came the
Julii Caesar), founded the town of Alba Longa. His daughter, Livinia
or Rhea Silvia, a supposed Vestal Virgin, had twins Romulus and
Remus, by the God Mars. It was supposedly Romulus who built Rome
between 745 and 748 BCE, on April 21st, a day sacred to Pales,
protectoress of flocks.
Others claim that Romulus was a son of Aeneas, others that he was the
son of King Latinus and a Trojan woman named Roma, or that Livinia
was Aeneas's daughter.
In 1907 excavations of huts were found on the Palatine Hill, near the
spot where Romans believed was the house of Romulus (casa Romuli).
These huts were rectangular with rounded corners, hollowed out of the
hillside and about .5 metre in length, maid of reeds coated with
mud. 8th century ossaries excavated near the Forum Romanum, have
been placed in terra-cotta pots shaped to resemble the Romulaean
cottages. Traces of tracks have been found connecting these huts
with huts also found on the Esquiline Hills, through the Forum was
the Isola Tiberina, the island that made the Tiber fordable at this
site. It appears that the villagers on the Palatine lived off their
flocks of sheep, brigandage and possibly a toll levied on those
neighbouring Sabines who crossed the river.
Regarding the legends, an archaeological discovery at Lavinium, in
Latium, at Prattica di Mare, 14 monumental altars, and a sacred tomb
called the heroon of Aeneas with votive inscriptions in Greek,
including a dedication to Castor and Pollux (archetypes of Romulus
and Remus), and an abundancy of terracotta statues to the Etruscan
Goddess Minerva (later identified with Athena), show that from the
7th century the connection with Aeneas was established.
Personally I feel Rome was "really" founded by Etruscans, as they
were the people who knew about urban design and probably built the
cloaca maxima, the sewer, which drained sewerage into the Tiber, and
so allowed Roman population to grow. Herodotus describes how these
people originally lived in Anatolia in the 9th century BCE, and left
during a famine under their leader Tarquin, to settle Tuscany. (The
traces of an El Nino caused famine at this period have been recently
found). Tarquin was also the name of the ruling family of Etruscans
from neighbouring Veii, who seized Rome, and their name seems related
to the Anatolian God Tarchon, or Tarhunt. Etruscans also worshiped
Apollo (Apulu) who seems to have been related to the Anatolian God
Aplu (from Babylonian Aplu = Son, a title given to Nergal son of
Enlil, God of the plague).
The clue that Aeneas was involved in this movement of Etruscans is
given by the fact that the date of the foundation of Carthage was
customarily given as 812 BCE, roughly the date of the Anatolian
Etruscan migration (if Herodotus is to be believed). Dido, with who
Aeneas dallied, was the daughter (or sister) of Pygmalion, King of
Tyre (who rulled from 820-774 BCE).
I feel a Trojan connection, however is still possible via the
Etruscans (Greek Tyrrhenoi or earlier Tyrsenoi) who also claimed to
come from and give their name (Troas) to Troy.
Hope this helps
Regards
John