Monday 14 October 2013

From Aeneas To Mehmed

Aeneas fled from Troy to Italy.
His descendant, Romulus, founded Rome.
A Roman Emperor, Constantine, renamed Byzantium Constantinople.
An Ottoman Emperor, Mehmed, renamed Constantinople Istanbul.

Thus, a long narrative sequence, beginning in mythology and ending in history, links the Ottoman siege of Constantinople back to the Greek siege of Troy.

Having defeated the Byzantine Empire and begun to rule from its former capital, Mehmed claimed to be Caesar of Rome and also possibly claimed to have avenged Troy by defeating the "Greeks" or Byzantines.

Gods change - Zeus, Jupiter, Christ, Allah - but humanity continues - Trojans, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Muslims.

Hail the gods and heroes! What happens next? Who succeeds Mehmed?