GU Mythology Series N°5
Just in case you didn't read the article's name, or the title: Welcome dear reader, to the fifth delivery of the GU Mythology series!
In the near past, we have had an analysis of neutral cards like Jason, Medea's muse and the Demogorgon, a nature card like the wild boar, and a deadly delivery in the form of Malissus, the Goddess of death, so today, we are having our first war card.
With an ass-whooping price of 0.13ETH, the most expensive fighter you can have in your war decks, the Troyan Hero, and progenitor of Romans, AENEAS!
(Credits to 
"Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris Italiam fato profugus Laviniaque venit Litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto Vi superum, saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram
Virgil, Aeneid, i. 1.
The end of Troy, the start of Rome.
You might ask yourself, What is that quote? Unless you speak Latin of course. Those are the first words of the Aeneid, the main source for our hero Aeneas, although he is mentioned as a minor character in the Illiad, from where the author of the Aeneid tokes his structure.
Written in Latin by the Roman poet Virgil (70 - 19 BC) the Aeneid is an epic poem allegedly entrusted by Emperor Augustus to exalt Roman virtues and celebrate the culture. Time would prove that he made it, as it stands today as the best piece of literature that Rome ever gave. The quote, tells how Aeneas's trip started:
I sing of arms and the man who first from the shores of Troy came destined an exile to Italy and the Lavinian beaches, much buffeted he on land and on the deep by force of the gods because of fierce Juno's never-forgetting anger.
I'm no Virgil, so I find it more adequate to allow him to introduce you to Aeneas in the next passage, where Aeneas introduces himself to the people of Carthage, in Lybia, after fleeing Troy:
The good Aeneas am I call’d, a name,
While Fortune favour’d, not unknown to fame.
My household gods, companions of my woes,
With pious care I rescued from our foes.
To fruitful Italy my course was bent;
And from the King of Heav’n is my descent.
Virgil, Aeneid, i. 1.
From the ashes of Troy, where our Hero was born, he sets sails to Italy, to fund their first cities (according to legends) and this takes us to the first symbology in the GU card.
See the structure behind Aeneas? It is a Parthenon, and being uphill it makes me think of the most known Parthenon, in Atenas. The image of it symbolizes the greek culture, and the little wolves the Roman, with Aeneas in the middle being him the link between both cultures, as he is also depicted in Homer's Illiad, but with less importance than the Romans gave him.
These wolves represent Romulus and Remus, direct descendants of Aeneas, being Romulus the founder of Rome, but, Why wolves?
Romulus and Remus were twins, sons of a priestess of the family, hearth, and home goddess Vesta. Being a priestess, she should remain a virgin, but, depending on the sources, she gave birth to the twins from the God Mars, or the demigod Hercules, and as a punishment, but fearing the wrath of the father, the king of Alba Longa (City founded by the son of Aeneas, Ascanius) decided to put the babies in a basket down the Tiber river, but by divine intervention, the twins were found and raised by a she-wolf. As grown-ups, both fight to decide where to fund their city, with Romulus finally killing his brother and founding Rome on the Palatine Hill, where the she-wolf had found them.
The legendary rarity of the card is fitting, as he is a legendary character because there aren't any sources that confirm his existence. Blitz and twin strike can be to show how a skillful warrior he was, being the principal lieutenant of Hector, the Trojan Prince, and general.
The protected characteristic is more interesting, we take for granted that the gods, either us, or Auros, our god of war are the ones who protect our creatures and characters, and we can see parallelisms in the Illiad, and in the Aeneid. In both epic poems, Aeneas is saved at least three times by the gods, because of the destiny they had for him. He is saved by Aphrodite, Apollo, and even Poseidon when he was about to die in combat while fighting the legendary Achilles. The equivalent in Virgil's Aeneid would be Venus (Aphrodite), Apollo maintains his name in Roman mythology, as it appears he was a late addition to their mythology and finally, Neptune for Poseidon.
The Olympian tribe, although Aeneas wasn't a god, he was a demigod, as he was the son of Aphrodite, so I find "Olympian" the most fitting category as a Greco-Roman character.
This is the end of today's article, but I want to leave you with a link for a free source to read the Aeneid because is just one of those texts that built the western culture. You'll find a lot of things that you can use in any chat with anybody, seek references for today's movies plots and characters, or just enjoy a very good f-ing poem.
Link: Virgil's Aeneid
That is all for today, I hope you enjoy the history and the stories, and I'll be here next week for another episode, and spoiler alert, there will be light!
Have a great grind!