Mythological origins

Butrint and Epirus – like many other cities and communities in the Mediterranean, not the least Rome – could claim Trojan links of ancestry. The most famous account of Butrint’s origins is that given by Virgil in the Aeneid (3.292-505). Here the Trojan hero Aeneas, during his travels through the Mediterranean, stops at Butrint where a surprise awaits him: the city is populated by his own kin and ruled by Helenus, the son of King Priam, and Andromache, the widow of Hector. Indeed the city is built to resemble Troy itself in miniature.

Though the story of Aeneas visiting Butrint was well established in Virgil’s time, the detail and description of the city as a miniature Troy is a Virgilian invention. It must have served Butrint well in its relationship with Rome during the early empire, but to represent itself the city preferred a different mythological story to highlight its Trojan origins. Teucros of Cyzicus in the 1st century AD recounts how Helenus and other Trojans stopped in Epirus on their journey west fleeing from their sacked homeland of Troy. Here they prepared to sacrifice a bull, but the animal escaped, swam across the gulf, and promptly expired as it reached land. Helenus acknowledged this as an omen and founded a city on the very spot, naming it Buthrotum in honour of the bull.

This story is explicitly depicted on Butrint coins from the period of Claudius; while the portrait of the emperor occupies the obverse, in the centre of the reverse field is depicted a swimming bull, its head thrown back and its front legs and hooves thrashing with palpable effort in the curvy lines of the water. Indeed, throughout the Julio-Claudian period bulls were a popular motif on the Butrint coinage: shown standing calmly, or with its head down thrashing the ground with its hooves, or simply as a frontal head.

Archaeologically, objects of a Bronze Age date have been found in the region, but as yet nothing has been found at Butrint. However, this should not surprise us. The association with Troy was most probably only developed during the 5th century BC, as this part of Epirus was taken over by the Molossian tribe. The Molossian royal house promoted its status as having both Greeks and Trojan ancestry: their eponymous ancestor, Molossus, was said to be the older son of Pyrrhus Neoptolemos, the son of Achilles, and Andromache. Later the Molossian King Pyrrhus would choose to favour the Greek Achilles as his ancestor – almost certainly to reinforce his familial links to the Macedonian general Alexander the Great and to establish himself as a natural opponent of Rome.

For 1st-century AD Butrint, the bull referred to the auspicious foundation of the city by the Trojan seer Helenus. The rapid appearance and longevity of this image hint at its long-established use, just as the adaptability of the iconographic form indicates the continued engagement with articulating the mythical origins of the city.

 

• Sacred Origins
• Mythological Origins
• Butrint and Corfu
• Butrint and Pyrrhus

The Greco-Trojan ancestry of the Molossian
The mixed ancestry of the Molossians is described in Euripides’ play Andromache, which he may have been invited to stage at the Molossian capital Passaron.

“Fate orders that the captive woman Andromache shall find a home in Molossia as the lawful wife of Helenus, and shall take with her her son, who is the sole survivor of the line of Aeacus. He shall beget a prosperous dynasty of kings to rule in long succession over Molossia. Though Troy fell, yet even to Troy the gods extend their kindly care”

Euripides Andromache 1244-49, 53