
Religion in The Wilusiad
Creating religious beliefs and practises from over 3000 years ago was one of the most exciting and challenging aspects of building the world of the WIlusiad. With limited written sources to assist regarding Wilusan/Trojan religion I relied very much on archaeology and information we had about the religious practices of their better documented neighbours such as the Hittite Empire to create a plausible spiritual life for Wilusa.



What deities did the Wilusans worship?
The clay tablet on the left is the Alaksandu Treaty, currently in the Troy Museum in Turkiye, which was found in the archives of the Hittite capital of Hattusas. Whilst the terms of the treaty itself are not without interest in the development of The Wilusiad but from the perspective of WIlusan religion its interest lies in the Deities called upon to witness it, including the deities of Wilusa. These include the deities of the underground springs and Appaliunas, widely interpreted as an early Anatolian iteration of Apollo. This is interesting as Apollo was the protector of Troy in the Illiad, and was also the God who the legendary Kassandra of Troy served and was ultiumately cursed by. This connection between the written record and the Homeric legend, to say nothing of the mysterious deities of the underground springs was a great starting point in developing a distinctive religion for The Wilusiad.


Image By Dosseman - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=116753084
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