Every city needs a story - and Padua has a story that matches up with the greatest of them, tracing its founding to Antenor, a refugee from the city of Troy, thereby establishing the founding date of 1184 BC, the traditional date of the fall of Troy.
The Trojan War was the biggest event of the ancient period - the generic time we think of as “Antiquity”, or what we think of when we hear “Greece and Rome”. Even today we know the phrase, “the face that launched a thousand ships”, a reference to the beauty of Helen, the princess whose capture (seduction?) kicked off the events that led to the war. The Trojan war brought us Homer’s Epics, The Iliad and The Odyssey. Lost to us, however, are the many other stories of the escapes and homecomings. Trojans fleeing the city, and the conquering Greeks returning from the city were fodder for stories of adventure and provided a link, and therefore legitimacy, to Troy, the greatest city known up until that time.
For example, Aeneas was a Trojan who arrived in Italy. He would found the Roman race. Romulus and Remus, founders of the actual geographic city of Rome, descended from Aeneas, a Trojan refugee.
Antenor, another Trojan, boasts Padua, made his way to the northern part of the Italian peninsula and founded their city. His tomb resides not in a cemetery outside the walls, nor is it hidden under the floor of an ancient building. The resting place of Antenor, the advisor to King Priam himself of Troy, and Helen, can readily be seen above ground, day or night, in Piazza Antenore. It is easily accessible via the following bus routes: 11, 12, 15, 22, ATL, E031-6, E080, and M.
Who was Antenor? We only have two brief references in Homer, where he fills the role of advisor, as he is too old to fight. Instead, he listens as Helen points out the Greek warriors from the walls of Troy, and confirms, in particular, the identity of Odysseus, who had stayed at Antenor’s house during a pre-war diplomatic mission.
Is the story of Antenor true? I’m not terribly concerned about the “truth“ of the story.
The tradition has been unbroken since antiquity, and the tradition, for me, is often more interesting than the truth.
Comentários