the darkness._

NOTES ON THE TROJAN WOMEN

[1] Poseidon.]--In the _Iliad_ Poseidon is the enemy of Troy, here the
friend. This sort of confusion comes from the fact that the Trojans and
their Greek enemies were largely of the same blood, with the same tribal
gods. To the Trojans, Athena the War-Goddess was, of course, _their_
War-Goddess, the protectress of their citadel. Poseidon, god of the sea
and its merchandise, and Apollo (possibly a local shepherd god?), were
their natural friends and had actually built their city wall for love of
the good old king, Laomedon. Zeus, the great father, had Mount Ida for
his holy hill and Troy for his peculiar city. (Cf. on p. 63.)

To suit the Greek point of view all this had to be changed or explained
away. In the _Iliad_ generally Athena is the proper War-Goddess of the
Greeks. Poseidon had indeed built the wall for Laomedon, but Laomedon
had cheated him of his reward--as afterwards he cheated Heracles, and
the Argonauts and everybody else! So Poseidon hated Troy. Troy is
chiefly defended by the barbarian Ares, the oriental Aphrodite, by its
own rivers Scamander and Simois and suchlike inferior or unprincipled
gods.

Yet traces of the other tradition remain. Homer knows that Athena is
specially worshipped in Troy. He knows that Apollo, who had built the
wall with Poseidon, and had the same experience of Laomedon, still loves
the Trojans. Zeus himself, though eventually in obedience to destiny he
permits the fall of the city, nevertheless has a great tenderness
towards it.

[2] A steed marvellous.]--See below, on p. 36.

[3] go forth from great Ilion, &c.]--The correct ancient doctrine. When
your gods forsook you, there was no more hope. Conversely, when your
state became desperate, evidently your gods were forsaking you. From
another point of view, also, when the city was desolate and unable to
worship its gods, the gods of that city were no more.

[4] Laotian Tyndarid.]--Helen was the child of Zeus and Leda, and sister
of Castor and Polydeuces; but her human father was Tyndareus, an old
Spartan king. She is treated as "a prisoner and a prize," _i.e_., as a
captured enemy, not as a Greek princess delivered from the Trojans.

[5] In secret slain.]--Because the Greeks were ashamed of the bloody
deed. See below, p. 42, and the scene on this subject in the _Hecuba_.

[6] Cassandra.]--In the _Agamemnon_ the story is more clearly told, that
Cassandra was loved by Apol