"The Burning of Troy" (c. 1621) Jan Brueghel the Elder


With Laocoon dead and discredited, the wooden horse is hauled within the city walls. Night falls, the hidden Greeks emerge from the horse and open the gates to their comrades, now returned under cover of darkness from Tenedos. The city is set ablaze. Most of the Trojans are slaughtered, but Aeneas leads a small band of refugees out of Troy. He is seen here in the lower right-hand corner with his aged father Anchises on his shoulders and his son Ascanius at his side.


Notice that Brueghel has actually modelled Troy on the city of Rome in his day, ironically inasmuch as it is Rome that Aeneas is fated to found years after his escape from Troy. Compare below a rough approximation of the view in the modern city.

(Photo by Leo Curran)

SEE THIS ON A MAP OF ROME


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Aeneas Ascanius, son of Aeneas Anchises, father of Aeneas St. Peter's Basilica Castel Sant' Angelo (Hadrian's Tomb) The Wooden Horse Tiber River Ponte Sant' Angelo