[yarddog]

I know the Romans considered themselves descended from the Trojans but is there any truth in that myth at all?

Usually there is a trace of fact in myths such as Theseus and the Minotaur. I just don’t think there is any hint of truth about the relationship of Rome and Troy but would love to learn if there is.

[SunkenCiv]

Not per se -- the Aeneid was commissioned by the Senate to create a founding myth of sorts, and perhaps to stake claims to the eastern Med, and ominously take on the role of descendants of a city sacked by the Greeks. But there's plenty of reason to think that the Etruscans came from the Aegean and Anatolia, so the Romans were after a fashion borrowing the identity of a people they'd conquered.

lemnian stele site:freerepublic.com

Google

[MrChips]

True? Absolutely! Aeneas was descended from Venus and his grandchildren, Romulus and Remus, were fathered by Mars. Everybody knows that!