I've been studying Roman history and I remembered an annual where Thor and Loki ended up being involved in the Trojan war and at the end of it there was a promise that the next years annual would showcase the true founding of Rome. Some of the legends of Rome have it being founded by the survivors of Troy, was this storyline ever followed up?
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No, there wasn't a follow-up. The story you are thinking of was in Thor Annual 8, published in 1979, written by Roy Thomas. According to the Mike's Amazing World website, It went on sale in August of that year, the same month as Thor 289. Roy left Marvel several months later, and Thor didn't have another Annual until 1981.
I'd not heard of this issue, and the link you draw strikes me as sharp. According to Roman legend, the Trojan refugee Aeneas married Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus, king of the Latins, and founded the line that led to Romulus, the founder of Rome.
It might be possible to guess what Thomas had in mind to an extent, depending on how he handled the Trojan War theme in the annual. I've read a comment by Thomas to the effect that he believes it elevates comics to relate them to literature. The Trojan War is the subject of the Iliad, and Aeneas's escape from Troy and settlement in Italy is the subject of the Aeneid. So it may be Thomas's idea was to put Thor into the stories of each epic.
On the other hand, the Iliad opens many years into the Trojan War and ends with the war still in progress, and the Aeneid ends before Aeneas marries Lavinia, so it may be his idea was instead to put Thor into gaps in the stories.
Or he might have been drawing on myth more generally; in referring to the founding of Rome he might instead have had in mind the story of Romulus and Remus (and perhaps the Rape of the Sabines).
He did something similar in Thor in the same period; he put Thor (and Valkyrie) into the story of Wagner's Ring cycle. That story, together with the annual, might indicate how freely he would have used the materials he drew on.
Does the annual make use of the Trojan Horse story? It doesn't appear in the Iliad, but it is related in the Odyssey and the Aeneid.
I think the Aeneas story is not taken by scholars to reflect history at all, but rather as a story designed to elevate the prestige of Rome by relating it to Troy.
I should admit I've read neither the Iliad, the Odyssey, nor the Aeneid. I should put them on my reading list.
In the story Thor and Loki are on one of their trips and wander into a mist that separates them and causes Thor to loose his memory. He meets up with one of the Trojans, I think Aenied himself. From there he's a spectator to the duel between Paris and Menelaus. After that my memory is a bit sketchy and my comics are buried at the moment, but I recall that Thor remembers who he is, is mistaken for Apollo, battles Zeus and while they battle the war plays out bellow them, afterwards Thor meets with Aenied one more time and then rejoins Loki who also lost his memory and fell in with Odysseus and together they came up with the Horse idea.
I liked it, it seemed to me that Thor was the type was more suited for epics then battling supervillains.
I've read and listened to the Illiad but not the full Odyssey and the one thing that struck me about the characters was that these grown men have less emotional control than most pre-schoolers I know :) I think Agememnon really deserved what he got in the Orestia.
In the Aeneid Juno is the villain, who continually causes troubles for the Trojans. So perhaps Thomas's idea was to retell the story, with Thor aiding Aeneas and his compatriots against the problems she causes. For example, Wikipedia tells me there's a sequence near the start where she has Aeolus attack Aeneas's fleet with winds, and Neptune ends the storm. Thomas might have had Thor save them instead. Possibly he would worked in Loki by casting him as the one who was suggesting stratagems to Juno.
If he wanted to continue the story to Aeneas's settlement in Italy he might have found it necessary to skip over Aeneas's romance with Dido, to keep it from overwhelming the rest of the story. Perhaps Thor would have been off somewhere else during that bit. On the other hand, that might be the epic's best-known episode. So perhaps he would have put Thor into the role of the one who advises Aeneas to continue on to Italy, and ended his story with Dido's death. Possibly he would have had her die in some other way than as in the poem, as a result of Loki's manoeuvring.
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No, there wasn't a follow-up. The story you are thinking of was in Thor Annual 8, published in 1979, written by Roy Thomas. According to the Mike's Amazing World website, It went on sale in August of that year, the same month as Thor 289. Roy left Marvel several months later, and Thor didn't have another Annual until 1981.
Too bad, that was a good story and I was curious to see the Rome origin.
I'd not heard of this issue, and the link you draw strikes me as sharp. According to Roman legend, the Trojan refugee Aeneas married Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus, king of the Latins, and founded the line that led to Romulus, the founder of Rome.
It might be possible to guess what Thomas had in mind to an extent, depending on how he handled the Trojan War theme in the annual. I've read a comment by Thomas to the effect that he believes it elevates comics to relate them to literature. The Trojan War is the subject of the Iliad, and Aeneas's escape from Troy and settlement in Italy is the subject of the Aeneid. So it may be Thomas's idea was to put Thor into the stories of each epic.
On the other hand, the Iliad opens many years into the Trojan War and ends with the war still in progress, and the Aeneid ends before Aeneas marries Lavinia, so it may be his idea was instead to put Thor into gaps in the stories.
Or he might have been drawing on myth more generally; in referring to the founding of Rome he might instead have had in mind the story of Romulus and Remus (and perhaps the Rape of the Sabines).
He did something similar in Thor in the same period; he put Thor (and Valkyrie) into the story of Wagner's Ring cycle. That story, together with the annual, might indicate how freely he would have used the materials he drew on.
Does the annual make use of the Trojan Horse story? It doesn't appear in the Iliad, but it is related in the Odyssey and the Aeneid.
I think the Aeneas story is not taken by scholars to reflect history at all, but rather as a story designed to elevate the prestige of Rome by relating it to Troy.
I should admit I've read neither the Iliad, the Odyssey, nor the Aeneid. I should put them on my reading list.
In the story Thor and Loki are on one of their trips and wander into a mist that separates them and causes Thor to loose his memory. He meets up with one of the Trojans, I think Aenied himself. From there he's a spectator to the duel between Paris and Menelaus. After that my memory is a bit sketchy and my comics are buried at the moment, but I recall that Thor remembers who he is, is mistaken for Apollo, battles Zeus and while they battle the war plays out bellow them, afterwards Thor meets with Aenied one more time and then rejoins Loki who also lost his memory and fell in with Odysseus and together they came up with the Horse idea.
I liked it, it seemed to me that Thor was the type was more suited for epics then battling supervillains.
I've read and listened to the Illiad but not the full Odyssey and the one thing that struck me about the characters was that these grown men have less emotional control than most pre-schoolers I know :) I think Agememnon really deserved what he got in the Orestia.
In the Aeneid Juno is the villain, who continually causes troubles for the Trojans. So perhaps Thomas's idea was to retell the story, with Thor aiding Aeneas and his compatriots against the problems she causes. For example, Wikipedia tells me there's a sequence near the start where she has Aeolus attack Aeneas's fleet with winds, and Neptune ends the storm. Thomas might have had Thor save them instead. Possibly he would worked in Loki by casting him as the one who was suggesting stratagems to Juno.
If he wanted to continue the story to Aeneas's settlement in Italy he might have found it necessary to skip over Aeneas's romance with Dido, to keep it from overwhelming the rest of the story. Perhaps Thor would have been off somewhere else during that bit. On the other hand, that might be the epic's best-known episode. So perhaps he would have put Thor into the role of the one who advises Aeneas to continue on to Italy, and ended his story with Dido's death. Possibly he would have had her die in some other way than as in the poem, as a result of Loki's manoeuvring.
It might also have been the point when the Greek gods changed names to become the Roman gods.