Asteropaeus, Troy and Her Allies, The Trojan War--single figure throwing spear and trident
$56.00
Item Number: TWT-08
Asteropaeus, Troy and Her Allies, The Trojan War
THE TROJAN WAR
THE TROJANS
Traditionally, the Trojan War arose from a sequence of events beginning with a quarrel between the goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Eris the goddess of discord, was not invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, and so arrived bearing a gift: A golden apple, inscribed “for the fairest”.
Each of the goddesses claimed to be the “fairest”, and the rightful owner of the apple. They submitted the judgement to a shepherd they encountered tending his flock. Each of the goddesses promised the young man a boon in return for his favour. Power, wisdom, or love. The youth, in fact Paris, a Trojan prince who had been raised in the countryside, chose love, and awarded the apple to Aphrodite.
As his reward, Aphrodite caused Helen, the Queen of Sparta, and the most beautiful of all women, to fall in love with Paris.
The judgement of Paris earned him the ire of both Hera and Athena, and when Helen left her husband, Menelaus, the Spartan king, for Paris of Troy, Menelaus called upon all the kings and princes of Greece to wage war upon Troy.
Menelaus’ brother Agamemnon King of Mycenae, led an expedition of Achaean troops to Troy and besieged the city for ten years because of Paris’ insult. After the death of many heroes, including the Achaeans, Achilles and Ajax and the Trojans Hector and Paris, the city fell to the ruse of the Trojan Horse. The Achaeans slaughtered the Trojans, except for some of the women and children whom they kept or sold as slaves. They desecrated the temples, thus earning the wrath of the gods.
Few of the Achaeans returned safely to their homes, and many founded colonies in distant shores. The Romans later traced their origin to Aeneas, Aphrodite’s son and one of the Trojans, who was said to have led the surviving Trojans to modern day Italy.
The Trojans, too had their semi-divine heroes and these included Hector (son of Priam), Aeneas, Sarpedon, and Glaucus, just to name a few. They also had help from the gods, receiving assistance during the battle from Apollo, Aphrodite, Ares and Leto.
ASTEROPAEUS
Asteropaeus was a leader of the Trojan allied Paeonians along with fellow warrior Pyraechmes. He was the son of Pelagon, who was the son of the river god Axios and the mortal woman Periboia daughter of Akessamenos.
Asteropaeous had the distinction in combat of being ambidextrous and would on occasion throw two spears at once. In the Iliad as the Trojans attacked the Achaean wall, he was a leader of the same group of the Lycian warriors with Sarpedon and Glaucus. It was this group which pressed hard enough to allow Hector and his troops to breach the wall.
Later during the siege, Achilles is mercilessly slaughtering Trojan warriors alongside the river Scamander, and polluting the water with dead bodies, including one of Priam’s sons, Lycaon. With the river god Scamander pondering how he might stop Achilles, Achilles in turn attacks Asteropaeous (himself the grandson of a river god) whom Scamander instills with courage to make a stand against Achilles.
Achilles and Asteropaeous engage in combat, Asteropaeous throwing two spears at the same time at Achilles. One spear hits Achilles’ shield, while the other hits the right forearm of Achilles and draws blood.
Asteropaeous was the only Trojan in the Iliad who was able to draw blood from Achilles. However, he fails to kill Achilles and is slain.
Achilles boasts that though Asteropaeous may be descended from a river god, that he, Achilles, is descended from a mightier god, Zeus.
Later , in the funeral games for the slain Patroclus, the bronze and tin corslet, and the silver studded swords of Asteropaeous are awarded as prizes.
Released in DECEMBER 2023.
