Note: Today my assignment is to write about one of the lessons I did this week, however, this essay is taking all my information from the third last day and last day of last week and the first day of this week (lessons 50, 52, & 53). Also, this essay is divide into three parts. The fall of Troy, the journeys of Aeneas, and the founding of Rome. They will be titled: The Iliad, The Aeneid, and Rome.
The Iliad
A man had who was said to be the most beautiful wife in the whole world. The wife’s name was Helen. Many kings and princes had fought to marry Helen, but this man (I can’t remember his name) had beat them all, also making the former lovers promise to fight for him if something ever happened to Helen and he need to fight. Well, a king of the city of Troy stole Helen away to be his wife. All the Greek heroes who had tried to marry Helen had to go to war against the Trojans. Well, the Greeks didn’t succeed until the built a giant horse and offered it to the Trojans as a supposed peace offering. However, the Greeks had several armed men hidden inside the Trojan horse, as it was later called. These men, once the horse was brought into the city and the Greeks had sailed around a point of land pretending to have gone home, these men broke out of the horse and opened the gates. The ship returned bringing the whole Greek army. The city of Troy fell, leaving few survivors.
The Aeneid
One of these survivors was Aeneas, a prince of Troy, and some of his men. Aeneas and his men set sail to look for a new homeland. They unfortunately wound up in Carthage, where the queen fell in love with Aeneas. Aeneas knew he would have to leave Carthage at some point. After staying with the queen 7 years, Aeneas once more set sail. The queen of Carthage committed suicide because she was so broken-hearted at Aeneas leaving. Aeneas winds up on the Italian coast after this, and after making a truce with the native people of Italy, Aeneas makes this a home for his people.
Rome
A few generations after Aeneas died, a man came to the throne. The legend says his name was Amulinus, but he kicked his elder brother, Numitor, off the throne to get it. Now Numitor had two children, a boy and a girl. He had the boy put to death. He appointed the girl to be a Priestess to the goddess Vesta. She then had to vow not to marry for 30 years. In this way, Amulinus planned to keep the throne for himself. However, the girl (her name was Sylvia) grew into a woman. The god Mars (keep in mind that this is all a legend) came down to earth and Syliva fell in love with him, for he appeared as a beautiful young man. They got married in secret and she had twin boys. When Amulinus heard of this, he had Syliva executed for breaking her vow, and the twin boys were thrown into the river. However, they were washed up on shore, and a female wolf raised them as her pups. In time, a shepherd found the infants and took them from the wolf to be their own children. In time the boys (whose names are Romulus and Remus) find out that they are really princes, and they overthrow Amulinus. One of the boys must be ruler, and they each want to have their own city. They pray to the gods, and they both claim that the gods answered each one’s sign. In the heat of the argument, Romulus kills Remus, and so Romulus sets up his own city, and names it after himself, naming it none other, than Rome.