Editing Troilus (section)

==The story in the ancient world==
[[Image:Polyxene Troilos Louvre CA6113.jpg|thumb|right|350px|alt=One side of a painted bowl. A mounted youth holding a spear rides away from a fountain. A woman runs after him. She is looking back towards the fountain.|Troilus and Polyxena fleeing. [[kylix (drinking cup)|Kylix]], by C-painter, c. 570–565 BC, [[Louvre]] (CA 6113), black-figure Attic. That there are two horses shown side by side can most clearly be seen by looking at their legs and tails.]]
[[Image:Akhilleus Louvre CA6113.jpg|thumb|right|350px|alt=A helmeted man with a shield is rising. Next to him is a dropped flask. On the far side of a colonnaded fountain can be seen part of a woman who is running away. The water spout in the fountain is set in a lion's head.|Achilles about to pursue Troilus and Polyxena from his position behind the well-house (reverse side of above).]]
For the ancient Greeks, the tale of the [[Trojan War]] and the surrounding events appeared in its most definitive form in the [[Epic Cycle]] of eight [[epic poetry|narrative poems]]<ref>For simplicity's sake, the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]'' are here treated as part of the Epic Cycle, though the term is often used to describe solely the non-[[Homer]]ic works.</ref> from the [[archaic period in Greece]] (750 BC – 480 BC). The story of Troilus is one of a number of incidents that helped provide structure to a narrative that extended over several decades and 77 books from the beginning of the ''[[Cypria]]'' to the end of the ''[[Telegony]]''. The character's death early in the war and the prophecies surrounding him demonstrated that all Trojan efforts to defend their home would be in vain. His symbolic significance is evidenced by linguistic analysis of his Greek name "Troilos". It can be interpreted as an [[elision]] of the names of [[Tros (mythology)|Tros]] and [[Ilos]], the legendary founders of Troy, as a [[diminutive]] or [[pet name]] "little Tros" or as an elision of ''Troíē'' (Troy) and ''lúein'' (to destroy). These multiple possibilities emphasise the link between the fates of Troilus and of the city where he lived.<ref>Boitani, (1989: pp.4–5).</ref> On another level, Troilus' fate can also be seen as [[foreshadowing]] the subsequent deaths of his murderer [[Achilles]], and of his nephew [[Astyanax]] and sister [[Polyxena]], who, like Troilus, die at the altar in at least some versions of their stories.<ref>Burgess (2001: pp.144–5).</ref>

Given this, it is unfortunate that the ''Cypria''—the part of the ''Epic Cycle'' that covers the period of the Trojan War of Troilus' death—does not survive. Indeed, no complete narrative of his story remains from archaic times or the subsequent [[Classical Greece|classical period]] (479–323 BC). Most of the literary sources from before the [[Hellenistic]] age (323–30 BC) that even referred to the character are lost or survive only in fragments or summary. The surviving ancient and medieval sources, whether literary or scholarly, contradict each other, and many do not tally with the form of the myth that scholars now believe to have existed in the archaic and classical periods.

Partially compensating for the missing texts are the physical [[Artifact (archaeology)|artifacts]] that remain from the archaic and classical periods. The story of the circumstances around Troilus' death was a popular theme among pottery painters. (The [[John Beazley|Beazley]] Archive website lists 108 items of [[Attica|Attic]] pottery alone from the 6th to 4th centuries BC containing images of the character.<ref>Beazley Archive databases accessible from [http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/databases/]. Link accessed 12-25-2007. '''Note:''' The databases are intended only for research and academic use.</ref>) Troilus also features on other works of art and decorated objects from those times. It is a common practice for those writing about the story of Troilus as it existed in ancient times to use both literary sources and artifacts to build up an understanding of what seems to have been the most standard form of the myth and its variants.<ref>Examples of this practice are the section "Troilos and Lykaon" by Gantz (1993: pp.597–603) and the chapter "Antiquity and Beyond: The Death of Troilus" by Boitani (1989: pp.1–19).</ref> The brutality of this standard form of the myth is highlighted by commentators such as Alan Sommerstein, an expert on ancient Greek drama, who describes it as "horrific" and "[p]erhaps the most vicious of all the actions traditionally attributed to Achilles."<ref>Sommerstein (2007: pp. 197,196).</ref>

===The standard myth: the beautiful Troilus murdered===
[[Image:Akhilleus Troilos Louvre E703.jpg|thumb|left|350px|alt=A painted strip running between the handles on the shoulders of a flask. A man wearing a greek-style helmet pulls a naked youth from one of a pair of horses. In the man's other hand is a raised sword. Behind the man, water pours form a lion's head fountain.|Achilles seizing Troilus by the hair as the youth attempts to flee the ambush at the fountain. Etruscan amphora of the Pontic group, ca. 540–530 BC. From Vulci.]]
Troilus is an adolescent boy or young man, the son of [[Hecuba]], queen of [[Troy]]. As he is so beautiful, Troilus is taken to be the son of the god [[Apollo]].<ref>Apollo's parentage first appears in a 2nd century AD text. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.12.5 Apollod.+3.12.5]</ref> However, Hecuba's husband, King [[Priam]], treats him as his own much-loved child.

A prophecy says that Troy will not fall if Troilus lives to the age of twenty. So the goddess [[Athena]] encourages the Greek warrior [[Achilles]] to seek him out early in the [[Trojan War]]. Troilus is known to take great delight in his horses. Achilles ambushes him and his sister [[Polyxena]] when he has ridden with her for water from a well in the [[Thymbra]] – an area outside Troy where there is a [[temple]] of Apollo.

The Greek is struck by the beauty of both Trojans and is filled with lust. It is the fleeing Troilus whom swift-footed<ref>This Homeric epithet is picked out as applying to Achilles in this context both in March (1998: p.389) and Sommerstein (2007: p.197).</ref> Achilles catches, dragging him by the hair from his horse. The young prince refuses to yield to Achilles' sexual attentions and somehow escapes, taking refuge in the nearby temple. But the warrior follows him in, and beheads him at the [[altar]] before help can arrive. The mourning of the Trojans at Troilus' death afterward is great.

This [[sacrilege]] leads to Achilles’ own death, when Apollo avenges himself by helping [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]] strike Achilles with the arrow that pierces his [[Achilles' heel|heel]].

===Ancient literary sources supporting the standard myth===

====Homer and the missing texts of the archaic and classical periods====
The earliest surviving literary reference to Troilus is in [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', which formed one part of the ''[[Epic Cycle]]''. It is believed that Troilus' name was not invented by Homer and that a version of his story was already in existence.<ref>Burgess (2001: p.64).</ref> Late in the poem, Priam berates his surviving sons, and compares them unfavourably to their dead brothers including ''Trôïlon hippiocharmên''.<ref>Homer ''Iliad'' (XXIV, 257) The text for the whole passage in Greek, with hotlinks to parallel English translations, is available at [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0133&layout=&loc=24.257]. (Verified 1 August 2007.)</ref> The interpretation of ''hippiocharmên'' is controversial but the root ''hipp-'' implies a connection with horses. For the purpose of the version of the myth given above, the word has been taken as meaning "delighting in horses".<ref name="Homer">Carpenter (1991: p.17), March (1998: p.389), Gantz (1993: p.597) and Lattimore's translation at {{cite web |title=Archived copy |url=http://www.library.northwestern.edu/homer/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070904141913/http://www.library.northwestern.edu/homer/ |archive-date=2007-09-04 |access-date=2007-08-15}} (and maybe Woodford (1993: p.55)) interpret ''hippiocharmên'' as horse-loving; Boitani (1989: p.1), who quotes [[Alexander Pope]]'s translation of the ''Iliad'' and the [[Liddell and Scott]] lexicon and translations available at the [[Perseus Project]] (checked 1 August 2007) interpret the word as meaning chariot warrior. Sommerstein (2007) wavers between the two meanings giving each in different places in the same book (p.44, p.197). The confusion over the meaning dates back to ancient times. The [[Homeric scholarship#Scholia|Scholia D]] (available in Greek at {{cite web |title=Archived copy |url=http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/vanthiel/scholiaD.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610171826/http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/vanthiel/scholiaD.pdf |archive-date=2007-06-10 |access-date=2007-08-14}} link checked 14 August 2007) says that the word can mean either a horse warrior or someone who takes delight in horses (p.579). Other scholia argue that Homer cannot have considered Troilus a boy, either because he is considered one of the best or because he is described as a horse-warrior. (Scholia S-I24257a and S-I24257b respectively, available in Greek at [http://panini.northwestern.edu/AnaServer?eumaios+656934+scholion.anv] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720014154/http://panini.northwestern.edu/AnaServer?eumaios+656934+scholion.anv|date=2011-07-20}}. Link checked 14 August 2007.)</ref> Sommerstein believes that Homer wishes to imply in this reference that Troilus was killed in battle, but argues that Priam's later description of Achilles as ''andros paidophonoio'' ("boy-slaying man")<ref>Homer ''Iliad'' 24.506.</ref> indicates that Homer was aware of the story of Troilus as a murdered child; Sommerstein believes that Homer is playing here on the ambiguity of the root ''paido-'' meaning boy in both the sense of a young male and of a son.<ref>Sommerstein (2007: pp. 44, 197–8).</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; width: 40%; margin-left: 1em;; font-size: 100%; line-height: 1.2;"
|+ style="font-size: 120%; margin-bottom: 0.5em;" | Ancient written sources for Troilus
|-
! Author
! Work
! Date
|-
!colspan="3" style="background: #dfdfdf;" | Full length descriptions in mythological literature
|-
| [[Stasinus of Cyprus]]?
| ''[[Cypria]]''
| late 7th century BC (lost)
|-
| [[Phrynichus (tragic poet)|Phrynichus]]
| ''Troilos''
| 6th–5th century BC (lost)
|-
| [[Sophocles]]
| ''Troilos''
| 5th century BC (lost)
|-
| [[Strattis]]
| ''Troilos''
| 5th–4th century BC (lost)
|-
| [[Dares Phrygius]]
| ''de excidio Trojae historia''
| parts written 1st–6th century?
|-
!colspan="3" style="background: #dfdfdf;" | Briefer references in mythological literature
|-
| [[Homer]]
| ''[[Iliad]]''
| 8th–7th century BC
|-
| [[Stesichorus]]
| possibly in ''Iliupersis''
| 7th–6th century BC (lost)
|-
| [[Ibycus]]
| unknown text of which only a few words survive
| late 6th century BC
|-
| [[Sophocles]]
| ''Polyxene''
| 5th century BC (lost)
|-
| [[Lycophron]]
| ''Alexandra''
| 3rd century BC?
|-
| [[Virgil]]
| ''[[Aeneid]]''
| 29–19 BC
|-
| [[Seneca the Younger]]
| ''Agamemnon''
| 1st century
|-
| [[Dictys Cretensis]]
| ''Ephemeridos belli Trojani''
| 1st–3rd century
|-
| [[Ausonius]]
| ''Epitaphs''
| 4th century
|-
| [[Quintus of Smyrna]]
| ''[[Posthomerica]]''
| Late 4th century?
|-
!colspan="3" style="background: #dfdfdf;" | Literary allusions to Troilus
|-
| Ibycus
| ''[[Polycrates]] poem''
| late 6th century BC
|-
| [[Callimachus]]
| ''Epigrams''
| 3rd century BC
|-
| [[Plautus]]
| ''[[Bacchides (play)|Bacchides]]''
| 3rd–2nd century BC
|-
| [[Cicero]]
| ''[[Tusculanae Quaestiones]]''
| c.45 BC
|-
| [[Horace]]
| [[Odes (Horace)|Odes Book 2]]
| 23 BC
|-
| [[Statius]]
| ''[[Silvae]]''
| Late 1st century
|-
| [[Dio Chrysostom]]
| ''Discourses''
| 1st–2nd centuries
|-
| "Clement"
| ''[[Clementine literature|Clementine Homilies]]''
| 2nd century?
|-
!colspan="3" style="background: #dfdfdf;" | Ancient and medieval academic commentaries on and summaries of ancient literature.
|-
| Various anonymous authors
| Scholia to the ''Iliad''
| 5th century BC to 9th century?
|-
| [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]]
| ''Fabulae''
| 1st century BC – 1st century AD
|-
| The "Pseudo-Apollodorus"
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Library]]
| 1st–2nd century
|-
| [[Eutychius Proclus]]?
| ''[[Chrestomathy]]''
| 2nd century?
|-
| [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]]
| Scholia to the ''Aeneid''
| Late 4th century
|-
| [[First Vatican Mythographer]]
| Mythography
| 9th–11th century?
|-
| [[Eustathius of Thessalonica]]
| Scholia to the ''Iliad''
| 12th century
|-
| [[John Tzetzes]]
| Scholia to the ''Alexandra''
| 12th century
|}

Troilus' death was also described in the ''[[Cypria]]'', one of the parts of the ''Epic Cycle'' that is no longer extant. The poem covered the events preceding the Trojan War and the first part of the war itself up to the events of the ''Iliad''. Although the ''Cypria'' does not survive, most of an ancient summary of the contents, thought to be by [[Eutychius Proclus]], remains. Fragment 1 mentions that Achilles killed Troilus, but provides no more detail.<ref>The text is available at [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/homer/cypria.htm]. (Verified 1 August 2007.)</ref> However, Sommerstein takes the verb used to describe the killing (''phoneuei'') as meaning that Achilles murders Troilus.<ref>Sommerstein (2007: p.198).</ref>

In Athens, the early [[tragedian]]s [[Phrynichus (tragic poet)|Phrynicus]] and [[Sophocles]] both wrote plays called ''Troilos'' and the comic playwright [[Strattis]] wrote a parody of the same name. Of the esteemed [[Nine lyric poets]] of the archaic and classical periods, [[Stesichorus]] may have referred to Troilus' story in his ''Iliupersis'' and [[Ibycus]] may have written in detail about the character. With the exception of these authors, no other pre-[[Hellenistic]] written source is known to have considered Troilus at any length.<ref>All these literary sources are discussed in Boitani (1989: p.16), Sommerstein (2007) and/or Gantz (1993: p597, p.601).</ref>

Unfortunately, all that remains of these texts are the smallest fragments or summaries and references to them by other authors. What does survive can be in the form of papyrus fragments, plot summaries by later authors or quotations by other authors. In many cases these are just odd words in [[lexicon]]s or grammar books with an attribution to the original author.<ref>Sommerstein (2007:pp. xviii–xx).</ref> Reconstructions of the texts are necessarily speculative and should be viewed with "wary but sympathetic scepticism".<ref>Malcolm Health on page 111 of "Subject Reviews: Greek Literature", ''Greece & Rome'' Vol.54, No 1. (2007), pp.111–6,[http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FGAR%2FGAR54_01%2FS0017383507000071a.pdf&code=8a624476e03828b381bc6fe8a66d382c] (link checked 1 August 2007). On pages 112–3 Heath reviews Sommerstein et al. (2007).</ref> In Ibycus' case all that remains is a parchment fragment containing a mere six or seven words of verse accompanied with a few lines of [[scholia]]. Troilus is described in the poem as godlike and is killed outside Troy. From the scholia, he is clearly a boy. The scholia also refer to a sister, someone "watching out" and a murder in the sanctuary of Thymbrian Apollo. While acknowledging that these details may have been reports of other later sources, Sommerstein thinks it probable that Ibycus told the full ambush story and is thus the earliest identifiable source for it.<ref>Sommerstein (2007: pp.199–200).</ref> Of Phrynicus, one fragment remains considered to refer to Troilus. This speaks of "the light of love glowing on his reddening cheeks".<ref>3 fr 13 Sn, cited in Gantz (1993: p.597), Sommerstein (2007: p.201) and Boitani (1989: p.16).</ref>

Of all these fragmentary pre-Hellenistic sources, the most is known of Sophocles ''Troilos''. Even so, only 54 words have been identified as coming from the play.<ref>Text available with parallel translation in Sommerstein (2007 pp:218–27).</ref> Fragment 619 refers to Troilus as an ''andropais'', a man-boy. Fragment 621 indicates that Troilus was going to a spring with a companion to fetch water or to water his horses.<ref>Sophocles fragment 621. Text available in the Loeb edition or Sommerstein (2007).</ref> A [[scholion]] to the ''Iliad''<ref>Scholia S-I24257a available in Greek at [http://panini.northwestern.edu/AnaServer?eumaios+656934+scholion.anv] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720014154/http://panini.northwestern.edu/AnaServer?eumaios+656934+scholion.anv|date=2011-07-20}}. Link checked 14 August 2007. Translated and discussed in Sommerstein (2007: p.203).</ref> states that Sophocles has Troilus ambushed by Achilles while exercising his horses in the Thymbra. Fragment 623 indicates that Achilles mutilated Troilus' corpse by a method known as [[maschalismos]]. This involved preventing the ghost of a murder victim from returning to haunt their killer by cutting off the corpse's extremities and stringing them under its armpits.<ref>Boitani (1989: p.15); Sommerstein (207: pp. 205–8).</ref> Sophocles is thought to have also referred to the maschalismos of Troilus in a fragment taken to be from an earlier play ''Polyxene''.<ref>Sophocles ''Troilus'' Fragment 528. Text with translation Sommerstein (2007: pp.74–5); discussed Sommerstein (2007: p.83).</ref>

Sommerstein attempts a reconstruction of the plot of the ''Troilos'', in which the title character is [[incest]]uously in love with Polyxena and tries to discourage the interest in marrying her shown by both Achilles and [[Sarpedon (Trojan War hero)|Sarpedon]], a Trojan ally and son of [[Zeus]]. Sommerstein argues that Troilus is accompanied on his fateful journey to his death, not by Polyxena, but by his tutor, a [[eunuch]] Greek slave.<ref>Sommerstein (2007: pp.203–12).</ref> Certainly there is a speaking role for a eunuch who reports being castrated by Hecuba<ref>Sophocles ''Troilus'' (fr.620).</ref> and someone reports the loss of their adolescent master.<ref>Sophocles ''Troilus'' (fr.629).</ref> The incestuous love is deduced by Sommerstein from a fragment of Strattis' parody, assumed to partially quote Sophocles, and from his understanding that the Sophocles play intends to contrast [[barbarian]] customs, including incest, with Greek ones. Sommerstein also sees this as solving what he considers the need for an explanation of Achilles' treatment of Troilus' corpse, the latter being assumed to have insulted Achilles in the process of warning him off Polyxena.<ref>Sommerstein (2007: pp.204–8).</ref> Italian professor of English and expert on Troilus, Piero Boitani, on the other hand, considers Troilus' rejection of Achilles' sexual advances towards him as sufficient motive for the mutilation.<ref>Boitani (1989, p:18).</ref>

====''Alexandra''====
The first surviving text with more than the briefest mention of Troilus is ''Alexandra'', a [[Hellenistic]] poem dating from no earlier than the 3rd century BC by the tragedian [[Lycophron]] (or a namesake of his). The poem consists of the obscure prophetic ravings of [[Cassandra]]:<ref>Boitani (1989: p. 16).</ref>

{{quote|Ay! me, for thee fair-fostered flower, too, I groan, O lion whelp, sweet darling of thy kindred, who didst smite with fiery charm of shafts the fierce dragon and seize for a little loveless while in unescapable noose him that was smitten, thyself unwounded by thy victim: thou shalt forfeit thy head and stain thy father’s altar-tomb with thy blood.<ref>{{cite book| author= Lycophron| title= Alexandra| pages= 307–13| translator= A. W. Mair| publisher= [[Loeb Classical Library]]}} Also: [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k71504d Greek manuscript] (accessed 1 August 2007)</ref>}}

This passage is explained in the [[Byzantine]] writer [[John Tzetzes]]' [[scholia]] as a reference to Troilus seeking to avoid the unwanted sexual advances of Achilles by taking refuge in his father Apollo's temple. When he refuses to come out, Achilles goes in and kills him on the altar.<ref>Tzetzes' comments are not readily available but are discussed by Gantz (1993: p. 601) and Boitani (1989: p. 17).</ref> Lycophron's scholiast also says that Apollo started to plan Achilles' death after the murder.<ref>Sommerstein (2007: p. 201).</ref> This begins to build up the elements of the version of Troilus' story given above: he is young, much loved and beautiful; he has divine ancestry, is beheaded by his rejected Greek lover and, we know from Homer, had something to do with horses. The reference to Troilus as a "lion whelp" hints at his having the potential to be a great hero, but there is no explicit reference to a prophecy linking the possibility of Troilus reaching adulthood and Troy then surviving.

====Other written sources====
No other extended passage about Troilus exists from before the [[Augustus|Augustan Age]]<!--you can probably find a better link than this, but at least this doesn't lead to a disambiguation page (Awadewit)--> by which time other versions of the character's story have emerged. The remaining sources compatible with the standard myth are considered below by theme.
[[Image:Akhilleus Athena Louvre CA6529.jpg|thumb|left|alt=An image painted on the body of a vase. A seated woman speaks to a man behind her while her hand gestures forward. The man wears greaves and a helmet and holds a shield and a spear.|Athena directing Achilles to attack Troilus. A feature of the tale not available from written sources. Detail of an Etruscan red-figure stamnos (from a pair known as "Fould stamnoi"), ca. 300 BC. From Vulci.]] [[Image:Troilos Louvre CA6529.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A naked youth holds the reins of a horse. He is naked apart from sandals and some a crown or garland on his head. Behind him is a shield, the [[aegis]] of Athena|An example of Troilus with only one horse. Reverse side of above]]
; '''Parentage''' : The [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] responsible for the ''Library'' lists Troilus last of Priam and Hecuba's sons – a detail adopted in the later tradition – but then adds that it is said that the boy was fathered by Apollo.<ref>Apollodorus ''Library''(III.12.5). Greek text with link to parallel English text available at [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0021&layout=&loc=3.12.5]. Link checked 2 August 2007.</ref> On the other hand, [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] includes Troilus in the middle of a list of Priam's sons without further comment.<ref>Hyginus ''Fabulae'' 90. English translation at [http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae2.html]. Link checked 2 August 2007.</ref> In the early Christian writings the [[Clementine Literature|Clementine ''Homilies'']], it is suggested that Apollo was Troilus' lover rather than his father.<ref>Clementine ''Homilies'' v. xv. 145. English translation available at {{cite web|url=http://www.compassionatespirit.com/Homilies/Book-5.htm |title=Book 5 |access-date=2007-08-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928015950/http://www.compassionatespirit.com/Homilies/Book-5.htm |archive-date=2007-09-28 }}. Link checked 8/8/2007.</ref>

; '''Youthfulness''' : [[Horace]] emphasises Troilus' youth by calling him ''inpubes'' ("unhairy", i.e. pre-pubescent or, figuratively, not old enough to bear arms).<ref name="Horace">Horace, ''Odes'' ii. ix. 13–16. Latin Text with link to translation available at [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0024&layout=&loc=2.9.1]. Link checked 2 August 2007.</ref> [[Dio Chrysostom]] derides Achilles in his Trojan discourse, complaining that all that the supposed hero achieved before Homer was the capture of Troilus who was still a boy.<ref>[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dio_Chrysostom/Discourses/11*.html#91 Dio Chrysostom ''Discourses'' (XI, 91)]</ref>

; '''Prophecies''' : The [[First Vatican Mythographer]] reports a prophecy that Troy will not fall if Troilus reaches the age of twenty and gives that as a reason for Achilles' ambush.<ref name=VM>VM (I, 120). The text is not easily available but is cited by Gantz (1993: p.602) and Sommerstein (2007: p.200, p.202) among others.</ref>  In [[Plautus]], Troilus' death is given as one of three conditions that must be met before Troy would fall.<ref>Plautus, ''[[Bacchides (play)|Bacchides]]'' 953-4. Text available in Latin with link to English translation at [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0033:tln%20line=925]. Link checked 2 August 2007.</ref>

; '''Beauty''' : [[Ibycus]], in seeking to praise his patron, compares him to Troilus, the most beautiful of the Greeks and the Trojans.<ref>Ibycus [[Polycrates]] poem (l.41-5). Text available in Greek with parallel German translation at [http://www.gottwein.de/Grie/lyr/lyr_ibyk01.php]. Link checked 2 August 2007.</ref> Dio Chrysostom refers to Troilus as one of many examples of different kinds of beauty.<ref>[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dio_Chrysostom/Discourses/21*.html#17 Dio Chrysostom Or.&nbsp;21.17]</ref> [[Statius]] compares a beautiful dead slave missed by his master to Troilus.<ref name="Silvae">Statius ''Silvae'' 2.6 32-3. Latin text available at [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/statius/silvae2.shtml]. Checked 29 July 2007.</ref>

; '''Object of [[Pederasty in ancient Greece|pederastic]] love''' : [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], in his scholia to the passage from [[Virgil]] discussed below, says that Achilles lures Troilus to him with a gift of doves. Troilus then dies in the Greek's embrace. [[Robert Graves]]<ref>Graves, (1955, 162.g).</ref> interprets this as evidence of the vigour of Achilles' love-making but [[Timothy Gantz]]<ref>Gantz (1993: p.602).</ref> considers that the "how or why" of Servius' version of Troilus' death is unclear.<ref name="Servius">Servius' Latin text can be seen at [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053&layout=&loc=1.474]. Link checked 2 August 2007.</ref> Sommerstein favours Graves's interpretation saying that murder was not a part of ancient pederastic relations and that nothing in Servius suggests an intentional killing.<ref>Sommerstein (2007: pp.200–1).</ref>

; '''Location of ambush and death''' : A number of reports have come down of Troilus' death variously mentioning water, exercising horses and the Thymbra, though they do not necessarily build into a coherent whole: the First Vatican Mythographer reports that Troilus was exercising outside Troy when Achilles attacked him;<ref name=VM /> a commentator on Ibycus says that Troilus was slain by Achilles in the Thymbrian precinct outside Troy;<ref>Gantz (1993: p.597).</ref> [[Eustathius of Thessalonica]]'s commentary on the ''Iliad'' says that Troilus was exercising his horses there;<ref>Eustathius on Homer's ''Iliad'' XXIV 257, cited by J. G. Frazer in footnote 79 to his translation of Apollodorus' ''Library''. Available at [http://www.theoi.com/Text/ApEb.html]. (Link checked 2 August 2007). Eustathius follows Scholion S-I24257a, available in Greek at [http://panini.northwestern.edu/AnaServer?eumaios+656934+scholion.anv] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720014154/http://panini.northwestern.edu/AnaServer?eumaios+656934+scholion.anv|date=2011-07-20}}. (Link checked 14 August 2007).</ref> Apollodorus says that Achilles ambushed Troilus inside the temple of Thymbrian Apollo;<ref>Apollodorus ''Epitome'' (3, 32) to the ''Library''. The text in Greek with a link to the English translation is available at [https://web.archive.org/web/20071223032258/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021:book=E:chapter=3:section=32]. Link checked 2 August 2007.</ref> finally, Statius<ref name=Silvae /> reports that Troilus was speared to death as he fled around Apollo's walls.<ref>The meaning of this passage is disputed. Carlos Parada at his [http://www.maicar.com/GML/Troilus.html ''Greek Mythology Link''] takes this as a reference to the walls of Apollo's temple. (Link checked 2 August 2007.) The footnote to the Loeb translation of this passage assumes this is a reference to Apollo having built the walls of Troy and that Statius is following the Virgilian version of the story.</ref> Gantz struggles to make sense of what he sees as contradictory material, feeling that Achilles' running down of Troilus' horse makes no sense if Troilus was just fleeing to the nearby temple building. He speculates that the ambush at the well and the sacrifice in the temple could be two different versions of the story or, alternatively, that Achilles takes Troilus to the temple to sacrifice him as an insult to Apollo.<ref>Gantz (1993: p.601).</ref>

; '''Mourning''' : Trojan and, especially, Troilus' own family's mourning at his death seems to have epitomised grief at the loss of a child in classical civilization. Horace,<ref name=Horace /> [[Callimachus]]<ref>Callimachus, fragment 363 available in Loeb Edition. Cited by Cicero at the reference below.</ref> and [[Cicero]]<ref>Cicero, ''[[Tusculan Disputations]]'' I, xxxix, 93. Latin text available at [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/cicero/tusc1.shtml] Link checked 2 August 2007.</ref> all refer to Troilus in this way.

===Ancient art and artifact sources===

[[Image:Troilos Polyxene Louvre E662.jpg|thumb|right|350px|alt=A picture on several pottery fragments. A youth rides one of two horses. He talks to a woman with a vase on her head. Behind the woman is some sort of structure. One of the horses is drinking from a bowl.|Troilus and Polyxena at the fountain, Laconian black-figured [[dinos]], Rider Painter, 560–540 BC., Louvre E662, Campana Collection 1861]]
[[Image:Akhilleus Louvre E662.jpg|thumb|right|250px|alt=More pottery fragments. An armoured man kneels, hiding behind the structure.|Achilles lying in wait, part of the same illustration]]
Ancient Greek art, as found in pottery and other remains, frequently depicts scenes associated with Troilus' death: the ambush, the pursuit, the murder itself and the fight over his body.<ref>The contents of this subsection have been compiled from the following sources:- Burgess, J. S. (2001); Carpenter, (1991); Woodford (1993); and the parts of Boitani (1989) and Gantz (1993) specified for this section of the article as a whole. All except the Gantz contain illustrations. The Beazley Archive sites listed in [[#External links|External links]] was also consulted. Images of the ambush and pursuit are shown at the address given.</ref> Depictions of Troilus in other contexts are unusual. One such exception, a red-figure vase painting from Apulia c.340BC, shows Troilus as a child with Priam.<ref>This picture is reproduced near the top of the entry for Troilus in Carlos Parada's ''Greek Mythology Link'' [http://www.maicar.com/GML/Troilus.html]. (Checked 29 July 2007.)</ref>

In the '''ambush''', Troilus and Polyxena approach a fountain where Achilles lies in wait. This scene was familiar enough in the ancient world for a parody to exist from c.400BC showing a dumpy Troilus leading a mule to the fountain.<ref name="Carpenter 1991: p.19">Carpenter (1991: p.19).</ref> In most serious depictions of the scene, Troilus rides a horse, normally with a second next to him.<ref>Briggite Knittlmeyer has proposed that Troilus was seen as an idealised version of the noble ephebe, youths being often depicted on pottery as mounted squires leading their warrior companions' horses. (See this 1998 review of her ''Die Attische Aristokratie und ihre Helden: Untersuchungen zu Darstellungen des trojanischen Sagenkreises im 6. und frühen 5. Jahrhundert v. Chr'' (Heidelberg: Verlag Archaeologie und Geschichte, 1997, {{ISBN|3-9804648-0-6}}) written by Michael Anderson for the [[Bryn Mawr College|Bryn Mawr Classical Review]] [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1998/1998-12-12.html]. Link checked 29 July 2007.)</ref> He is usually, but not always, portrayed as a beardless youth. He is often shown naked; otherwise he wears a cloak or tunic. Achilles is always armed and armoured. Occasionally, as on the vase picture at  [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/vor?type=phrase;alts=0;group=typecat;lookup=Toledo%201947.62;collection=Perseus%3Acollection%3AGreco-Roman;target=en%2C0;extern=1;detail=Image#Image], or the fresco from the [[Tomb of the Bulls]] shown at the head of this article, either Troilus or Polyxena is absent, indicating how the ambush is linked to each of their stories. In the earliest definitely identified version of this scene, (a Corinthian vase c.580BC), Troilus is bearded and Priam is also present. Both these features are unusual.<ref name="Carpenter 1991: p.18">Carpenter (1991: p.18).</ref> More common is a bird sitting on the fountain; normally a raven, symbol of Apollo and his prophetic powers and thus a final warning to Troilus of his doom;<ref>Boitani (1989: p.13).</ref> sometimes a cock, a common love gift suggesting that Achilles attempted to seduce Troilus.<ref>Boitani: (1989: p17).</ref> In some versions, for example an Attic amphora in the [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]] dating from c.530BC (seen here [https://web.archive.org/web/20071025092059/http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_art.asp?recview=true&id=153428&coll_keywords=&coll_accession=&coll_name=&coll_artist=&coll_place=&coll_medium=&coll_culture=&coll_classification=&coll_credit=&coll_provenance=&coll_location=&coll_has_images=&coll_on_view=&coll_sort=0&coll_sort_order=0&coll_view=0&coll_package=2350&coll_start=111]) Troilus has a dog running with him. On one [[Etruscan art|Etruscan]] vase from the 6th century BC, doves are flying from Achilles to Troilus, suggestive of the love gift in Servius.<ref>Boitani (1989: p.17); Sommerstein (2007: p.201).</ref> The fountain itself is conventionally decorated with a lion motif.

The earliest identified version of the '''pursuit''' or '''chase''' is from the third quarter of the 7th century BC.<ref name="Carpenter 1991: p.19"/> Next chronologically is the best known<ref>March (1998: p.389).</ref> version on the [[François Vase]] by [[Kleitias]].<ref>The sections of this scene linked in the discussion are on the [[Perseus Project]] website. (Links verified 1 August 2007.)</ref> The number of characters shown on pottery scenes varies with the size and shape of the space available.<ref>Woodford (1993: p.58).</ref>  The François Vase is decorated with several scenes in long narrow strips. This means that the Troilus frieze is heavily populated. In the centre, (which can be seen at the Perseus Project at [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/image?lookup=Perseus:image:1993.01.0103],) is the fleeing Troilus, riding one horse with the reins of the other in his hand. Below them is the vase—which Polyxena (partially missing), who is ahead of him, has dropped. Achilles is largely missing but it is clear that he is armoured. They are running towards Troy [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/image?lookup=Perseus:image:1993.01.0104] where [[Antenor (mythology)|Antenor]] gestures towards Priam. [[Hector]] and [[Polites (Prince of Troy)|Polites]], brothers of Troilus, emerge from the city walls in the hope of saving Troilus. Behind Achilles [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/image?lookup=1993.01.0100] are a number of deities, Athena, [[Thetis]] (Achilles' mother), [[Hermes]], and Apollo (just arriving). Two Trojans are also present, the woman gesturing to draw the attention of a youth filling his vase. As the deities appear only in pictorial versions of the scene, their role is subject to interpretation. Boitani sees Athena as urging Achilles on and Thetis as worried by the arrival of Apollo who, as Troilus' protector, represents a future threat to Achilles.<ref>Boitani (1989: pp.11–12).</ref> He does not indicate what he thinks Hermes may be talking to Thetis about. The classicist and art historian Professor Thomas H. Carpenter sees Hermes as a neutral observer, Athena and Thetis as urging Achilles on, and the arrival of Apollo as the artist's indication of the god's future role in Achilles' death.<ref name="Carpenter 1991: p.18"/> As Athena is not traditionally a patron of Achilles, Sommerstein sees her presence in this and other portrayals of Troilus' death as evidence of the early standing of the prophetic link between Troilus' death and the fall of Troy, Athena being driven, above all, by her desire for the city's destruction.<ref>Sommerstein (2007: p.202).</ref>

[[Image:Akhilleus Troilos Staatliche Antikensammlungen 1722.jpg|thumb|left|350px|alt=An illustration on the shoulders of a vase. A man in Greek-style armour chases a youth who is riding one of a pair of horses. His cloak streams behind him. A broken vase is below the horses. On either side of these figures are fleeing woman and, beyond them, men in ancient Anatolian costumes.|Achilles pursues Troilus, black-figure [[Attica|Attic]] [[hydria]], ca. [[-510|510 BC]], [[Staatliche Antikensammlungen]] (Inv. 1722)]]

The standard elements in the pursuit scene are Troilus, Achilles, Polyxena, the two horses and the fallen vase. On two tripods, an amphora and a cup, Achilles already has Troilus by the hair.<ref>Gantz (1993: p.598, p.599).</ref> A famous vase in the [[British Museum]], which gave the [[Troilos Painter]] the name by which he is now known, shows the two Trojans looking back in fear, as the beautiful youth whips his horse on. This vase can be seen at the Perseus Project site [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/image?lookup=Perseus:image:1990.14.0065]. The water spilling from the shattered vase below Troilus' horse, symbolises the blood he is about to shed.<ref>Woodford (1993: pp.58–9).</ref>

The [[iconography]] of the eight legs and hooves of the horses can be used to identify Troilus on pottery where his name does not appear; for example, on a Corinthian vase where Troilus is shooting at his pursuers and on a peaceful scene on a Chalcidian krater where the couples [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]] and [[Helen of Troy|Helen]], Hector and [[Andromache]] are labelled, but the youth riding one of a pair of horses is not.<ref>Carpenter (1991: pp.19–20).</ref>

A later Southern Italian interpretation of the story is on vases held respectively at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the [[Hermitage Museum]] in [[St Petersburg]]. On the [[krater]] from c.380-70BC at [https://web.archive.org/web/20070105005012/http://www.mfa.org/master/sub.asp?key=2656&subkey=3424] Troilus can be seen with just one horse trying to defend himself with a throwing spear; on the [[hydria]] from c.325-320BC at [https://archive.today/20120629151055/http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/fcgi-bin/db2www/quickSearch.mac/gallery?selLang=English&tmCond=Troilus&go.x=20&go.y=11], Achilles is pulling down the youth's horse.

[[Image:Achilles slaying Troilus.PNG|thumb|right|350px|alt=two images from a bowl. The outside strip shows an armoured man dragging a boy towards an altar. Behind them two horses run away. In the inner illustration, they are at the altar. The man has his sword raised ready to swing. He holds by the hair the boy who is struggling to break free.|Achilles about to behead Troilus at the altar. Red-figured [[Kylix (drinking cup)|kylix]] c. 510BC, signed by [[Euphronios]]. Now in the Museo Archeologico, [[Perugia]]. Note how the size of the figures is used to emphasise the brutality of the murder.<ref>March (1998: p.389) talks of a "violent contrast made between the huge attacking warrior and the small defenceless boy" and uses the lower of these two pictures as illustration (on p.15).</ref>]]

The earliest known depictions of the '''death''' or '''murder''' of Troilus are on shield bands from the turn of the 7th into the 6th century BC found at [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]]. On these, a warrior with a sword is about to stab a naked youth at an altar. On one, Troilus clings to a tree (which Boitani takes for the laurel sacred to Apollo).<ref>Boitani (1989: p.11).</ref>  A crater contemporary with this shows Achilles at the altar holding the naked Troilus upside down while Hector, [[Aeneas]] and an otherwise unknown Trojan Deithynos arrive in the hope of saving the youth. In some depictions Troilus is begging for mercy. On an amphora, Achilles has the struggling Troilus slung over his shoulder as he goes to the altar.<ref>Gantz (1993: p.599).</ref> Boitani, in his survey of the story of Troilus through the ages, considers it of significance that two artifacts (a vase and a sarcophagus) from different periods link Troilus' and Priam's death by showing them on the two sides of the same item, as if they were the beginning and end of the story of the fall of Troy.<ref>Boitani (1989: p.5).</ref>  Achilles is the father of Neoptolemus, who slays Priam at the altar during the sack of Troy. Thus the war opens with a father killing a son and closes with a son killing a father.

Some pottery shows Achilles, already having killed Troilus, using his victim's severed head as a weapon as Hector and his companions arrive too late to save him; some includes the watching Athena, occasionally with Hermes. At [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/image?lookup=Perseus:image:1990.34.0042] is one such picture showing Achilles fighting Hector over the altar. Troilus' body is slumped and the boy's head is either flying through the air, or stuck to the end of Achilles' spear. Athena and Hermes look on. Aeneas and Deithynos are behind Hector.

Sometimes details of the closely similar deaths of Troilus and Astyanax are exchanged.<ref>Carpenter (1991: p.20-21).</ref> [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/image?lookup=Perseus:image:1990.34.0174] shows one such image where it is unclear which murder is portrayed. The age of the victim is often an indicator of which story is being told and the relative small size here might point towards the death of Astyanax, but it is common to show even Troilus  as much smaller than his murderer, (as is the case with the [[Kylix (drinking cup)|kylix]] pictured to the above right). Other factors in this case are the presence of Priam (suggesting Astyanax), that of Athena (suggesting Troilus) and the fact that the scene is set outside the walls of Troy (again suggesting Troilus).<ref>The image is further discussed at the Perseus website [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0043%3Ahead%3D%23526]. Last checked, 28 July 2007.</ref>

===A variant myth: the boy-soldier overwhelmed===
A different version of Troilus' death appears on a red-figure cup by [[Oltos]]. Troilus is on his knees, still in the process of drawing his sword when Achilles' spear has already stabbed him and Aeneas comes too late to save him. Troilus wears a helmet, but it is pushed up to reveal a beautiful young face. This is the only such depiction of Troilus' death in early figurative art.<ref name="Boitani 1989: p.7">Boitani (1989: p.7).</ref> However, this version of Troilus as a youth defeated in battle appears also in written sources.

====Virgil and other Latin sources====
This version of the story appears in [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'',<ref>Virgil, ''Aeneid'': I, 474-8. The Latin text with links to English translations can be seen at [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0055&layout=&loc=1.474]. Link verified 08/08/2007.</ref> in a passage describing a series of paintings decorating the walls of a temple of [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]]. The painting immediately next to the one depicting Troilus shows the death of [[Rhesus of Thrace|Rhesus]], another character killed because of prophecies linked to the fall of Troy. Other pictures are similarly calamitous.

[[Image:Achilles seizing Troilus.jpg|thumb|left|350px|alt=a piture beaten out on the bronze of the breastplate. A man with a shield drags a naked youth by the hair from his horse.|A [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] illustration still showing Achilles having run down a mounted Troilus. Detail of bronze breastplate of a statue of [[Germanicus]]. 2nd century. From Perugia.]] In a description whose pathos is heightened by the fact that it is seen through a compatriot's eyes,<ref>Boitani (1989: p.2).</ref> Troilus is ''infelix puer'' ("unlucky boy") who has met Achilles in "unequal" combat. Troilus' horses flee while he, still holding their reins, hangs from the chariot, his head and hair trailing behind while the backward-pointing spear scribbles in the dust. (The First Vatican Mythographer<ref name=VM /> elaborates on this story, explaining that Troilus's body is dragged right to the walls of Troy.<ref>Sommerstein (2007: p.200) takes the mythographer's version to imply that Achilles tied Troilus to his horses reins.</ref>)

In his commentary on the ''Aeneid'', Servius<ref name=Servius/> considers this story as a deliberate departure from the "true" story, bowdlerized to make it more suitable for an epic poem. He interprets it as showing Troilus overpowered in a straight fight. Gantz,<ref>Gantz (1993: note 39, p.838).</ref> however, argues that this might be a variation of the ambush story. For him, Troilus is unarmed because he went out not expecting combat and the backward pointing spear was what Troilus was using as a goad in a manner similar to characters elsewhere in the ''Aeneid''. Sommerstein, on the other hand believes that the spear is Achilles' that has struck Troilus in the back. The youth is alive but mortally wounded as he is being dragged towards Troy.<ref>Sommerstein (2007: p.200).</ref>

An issue here is the ambiguity of the word ''congressus'' ("met"). It often refers to meeting in a conventional combat but can have reference to other types of meetings too. A similar ambiguity appears in [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]]<ref>Seneca ''[[Agamemnon (Seneca)|Agamemnon]]'' 748. The text in Latin, in which Cassandra grieves that Troilus met Achilles too soon, is available at [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/sen/sen.agamemnon.shtml]. Link verified 10/15/07.</ref>  and in  [[Ausonius]]' 19th epitaph,<ref>Ausonius, ''Epitapia'', 19. Latin Text available at {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20030625200255/http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/epitaphia.html]}}. Link verified 8/8/2007.</ref> narrated by Troilus himself. The dead prince tells how he has been dragged by his horses after falling in unequal battle with Achilles. A reference in the epitaph comparing Troilus' death to Hector's suggests that Troilus dies later than in the traditional narrative, something that, according to Boitani,<ref>Boitani (1989: p.10).</ref> also happens in Virgil.

====Greek writers in the boy-soldier tradition====
[[Quintus of Smyrna]], in a passage whose atmosphere Boitani describes as sad and elegiac, retains what for Boitani are the two important issues of the ancient story, that Troilus is doomed by Fate and that his failure to continue his line symbolises Troy's fall.<ref>Boitani (1989: pp.6–7).</ref> In this case, there is no doubt that Troilus entered battle knowingly, for in the ''[[Posthomerica]]'' Troilus's armour is one of the funerary gifts after Achilles' own death. Quintus repeatedly emphasises Troilus's youth: he is beardless, virgin of a bride, childlike, beautiful, the most godlike of all Hecuba's children. Yet he was lured by Fate to war when he knew no fear and was struck down by Achilles' spear just as a flower or corn that has borne no seed is killed by the gardener.<ref>Quintus of Smyrna, ''Posthomerica'' iv, 470-90. English translation by A.S.Way available at [http://mcllibrary.org/Troy/book4.html]. Link verified 10/15/2007.</ref>

In the ''Ephemeridos belli Trojani'' (''Journal of the Trojan War''),<ref>Full translated text available in Frazer (1966).</ref> supposedly written by [[Dictys Cretensis|Dictys the Cretan]] during the Trojan War itself, Troilus is again a defeated warrior, but this time captured with his brother [[Lycaon (son of Priam)|Lycaon]]. Achilles vindictively orders that their throats be slit in public, because he is angry that Priam has failed to advance talks over a possible marriage to Polyxena. Dictys' narrative is free from gods and prophecy but he preserves Troilus' loss as something to be greatly mourned:

<blockquote><div>
The Trojans raised a cry of grief and, mourning loudly, bewailed the fact that Troilus had met so grievous a death, for they remembered how young he was, who being in the early years of his manhood, was the people's favourite, their darling, not only because of his modesty and honesty, but more especially because of his handsome appearance.<ref>Dictys IV.9, translation by Frazer (1966: p.93).</ref>
</div></blockquote>