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Brutus, or Brute of Troy, is a legendary descendant of the Trojan hero Aeneas, known in medieval British legend as the eponymous founder and first king of Britain. This legend first appears in the ''Historia Britonum'', a 9th-century historical compilation attributed to Nennius, but is best known from the account given by the 12th century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth in his ''Historia Regum Britanniae''. However, he is not mentioned in any classical text and is not considered to be historical. ==''Historia Britonum''== The ''Historia Britonum'' states that "The island of Britain derives its name from Brutus, a Roman consul" who conquered Spain. This is ultimately derived from Isidore of Seville's popular 7th century work Etymologiae, in which it was speculated that Britain was named after the Roman general Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus, who pacified Further Spain in 138 BC. A more detailed story, set before the foundation of Rome, follows, in which Brutus is the grandson or great grandson of Aeneas — a legend that blends Isidore's spurious etymology with the Christian, pseudo-historical "Table of Nations" tradition that emerged in the early medieval European scholarly world and attempted to trace the peoples of the known world (as well as legendary figures, such as the Trojan house of Aeneas) back to Biblical ancestors.〔Summerfield, Thea , "Filling the Gap: Brutus in the Historia Brittonum, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle MS F, and Geoffrey of Monmouth", in: Dresvina, Juliana and Sparks, Nicholas (Eds.), The Medieval Chronicle VII, Rodopi, Amsterdam/New York, 2011, p. 85-102〕 Following Roman sources such as Livy and Virgil, the ''Historia'' tells how Aeneas settled in Italy after the Trojan War, and how his son Ascanius founded Alba Longa, one of the precursors of Rome. Ascanius married, and his wife became pregnant. In a variant version, the father is Silvius, who is identified as either the second son of Aeneas, previously mentioned in the ''Historia'', or as the son of Ascanius. A magician, asked to predict the child's future, said it would be a boy and that he would be the bravest and most beloved in Italy. Enraged, Ascanius had the magician put to death. The mother died in childbirth. The boy, named Brutus, later accidentally killed his father with an arrow and was banished from Italy. After wandering among the islands of the Tyrrhenian Sea and through Gaul, where he founded the city of Tours, Brutus eventually came to Britain, named it after himself, and filled it with his descendants. His reign is synchronised to the time the High Priest Eli was judge in Israel, and when the Ark of the Covenant was taken by the Philistines.〔''Historia Britonum'' 7, 10-11〕 A variant version of the ''Historia Britonum'' makes Brutus the son of Ascanius's son Silvius, and traces his genealogy back to Ham, son of Noah.〔Morris 1980, p. 19.〕 Another chapter traces Brutus's genealogy differently, making him the great-grandson of the legendary Roman king Numa Pompilius, who was himself a son of Ascanius, and tracing his descent from Noah's son Japheth.〔''Historia Britonum'' 18〕 These Christianising traditions conflict with the classical Trojan genealogies, relating the Trojan royal family to Greek gods. Yet another Brutus, son of Hisicion, son of Alanus the first European, also traced back across many generations to Japheth, is referred to in the ''Historia Britonum''. This Brutus's brothers were Francus, Alamanus and Romanus, also ancestors of significant European nations.〔''Historia Britonum'' 17-18〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Brutus of Troy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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