A Lasting War: Representing Troy In Ancient Greece And Medieval Europe

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The past was always within reach for medieval artists, just as it had been for their ancient Greek counterparts. Stories of the epic Trojan War and its heroes provided a particular source of inspiration—and identification—for both. What explains this war’s lasting power?

Troy had been sacked and burned some 3,000 years before legends of its destruction inspired medieval scribes and illuminators—as we see in one particularly fascinating section of the exhibition Imagining the Past in France, 1250–1500. Yet scenes and stories from the fabled conflict remained so vivid to medieval viewers that they often served as a historical point of reference.

For example, chronicles written in Old French prose as early as the 13th century claimed that a Trojan survivor made his way to Europe, where he founded France and his descendants became French kings. (As a parallel, imagine a contemporary novel claiming a genealogical relationship between Julius Caesar and President Obama.)

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