Aethilla

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Aethilla (also Aethylla) was a Trojan princess, the daughter of King Laomedon and sister of Priam. After Troy fell, she was captured by Protesilaus and taken home with other captives. While Protesilaus went inland for water, Aethilla urged the other captives to burn the ships. The fire trapped the Greeks on the shore, and they later founded the town of Scione.

Other versions place the event in Italy, where a river named Nauaethus (“of the burning ships”) was said to commemorate it, and Aethilla, Astyoche, and Medesicaste were called Nauprestidai (“they who set fire to ships”). In some accounts a Trojan captive named Setaia was the arsonist; she was crucified, and a town and a rock near Sybaris were named for her.

In Virgil’s Aeneid, a similar plot occurs in Sicily: Trojan women burn ships to force Aeneas to settle there; Virgil mentions Beroe and Pyrgo among the supporters. Strabo’s account links these versions, explaining that the nearby river Neaethus got its name from the incident, when Trojan women aboard the ships burned them so the men would stay. Strabo’s version blends elements from all the stories.