A Trojan Navy?

A thought that occasionally hits me when thinking about the “thousand ships” is whether there was a Trojan navy, and if so, how big and whether it was capable of resisting the Greek incursion? Apparently, Troy sat like a spider in its trap on the door to the Hellespont (Dardanelles), taxing or coercing foreign shipping seeking passage through the straits. The difficulty of that passage - one would have to wait (for days?) for the right conditions to make it through safely - brought the paying traffic to the waiting spider, who would offer (sell) succor and literally safe harbor until safe passage obtained. This would obviate the need for a navy, but the suspicion here is the Trojans would have had a powerful naval squadron available nonetheless.

Not content to milk the strategic advantages possession of the straits conferred, the Trojans engaged in overseas adventures culminating in the casus belli, the raid on Sparta that precipitated the crisis. The Trojans are allowed up to 8 ships - the same as the Achaeans - with the understanding that special scenario rules could dramtically alter the mix.

The Lukka

The Lukka - Lycians - are the Trojans’ own bully-boy equivalent to the “Myrmidones”. The Lukka are known to have fought in league with the Sea Peoples’ “Ekwesh”, long believed (by some) to be the Achaeans. They would have had similar fighting styles, as they are depicted in Egyptian art with body armour and slashing swords, and the curious “feather-crowned” helmet (also associated with the Achaeans). I have not gone so far as to equate the Lukka with the (Fanatical) Myrmidones of the Achaean list, but they still count as Wb(F) and up to 50% of them may be uparmoured to HI.

Exotic Allies

In order to kick this army up another notch (Bam!), and further differentiate it from the Achaeans, several allied contingents are added to the stew: Thracians, Amazons and Ethiopians. The Thracians are an integral component of the Trojan list; the Amazons and Ethiopians are not - the latter may be included only if the players agree in advance.

The Thracians are mentioned in the Iliad, actually fighting for both sides. A key event in the Iliad is the so-called Doloneia (Book 10), the night raid by Odysseus and Diomedes on the Trojan camp in which they slay the newly arrived Thracian King Rhesos in his sleep. These Thracians are presumed to be no different from the “barbarian trash” of later Greek army lists, loose order UI with javelins and crescent shields (but forget the rhompaia), although Rhesos himself has a chariot with a legendary team of horses.

The advent of the Amazons is a singular event in the post-Iliad Trojan War cycle, as the monstrous Achilles who emerged from Homer’s epic is for the last time stricken by grief , i.e. “humanized”, at the death of Penthesileia, the Amazon queen whom he had brutally slain to save the Achaean host from utter rout. I am comfortable re-interpreting this material as an allusion to the Scythians, whose women may very well have joined a raiding party seeking spoils at Troy (whether this is an anachronistic element or not is another matter).

Finally, the arrival of Memnon’s Ethiopians provided the last heroic episode of Achilles’ short life: the slaying of Memnon. One could interpret these warriors as Libyans, Nubians or (even) Egyptians. The view here is they may be best represented as African loose-order bow and/or spearmen and skirmishers, not unlike the warriors who assailed Egypt several times during the Sea Peoples’ invasions, who acted in league with Ekwesh and Lukka mercenaries.

More Trojans

Introduction
Who Were the Trojans?
Trojans Navy, Lukka, and Allies
The Wargame List