Final answer:
Venus suggests divine intervention as the cause for Troy's downfall. Regarding Persepolis, differing historical accounts attribute its destruction to Thaïs's urge at a party or to calculated revenge by Alexander the Great, demonstrating the variation in historical interpretations.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question posed relates to the mythical account of the destruction of Troy, specifically within the context of Virgil's 'Aeneid'. In the text, Venus suggests that the fall of Troy can be attributed to the gods themselves, implying that divine forces were the culprits behind Troy's end. She portrays the gods as the ones who undermine the city's defenses, allowing the Greeks to infiltrate and destroy it. This reflects the ancient belief systems where the gods were deeply intertwined with the fates of cities and individuals, and their whims could bring about the rise and fall of empires.
As for the question pertaining to the destruction of Persepolis, it points to a historical event. According to later Roman historians like Quintus Curtius Rufus and Plutarch, the fires that burned the city were the result of a chaotic party and lit at the urging of Thaïs. However, the historian Arrian, who used sources closer to the time of Alexander the Great, suggests the destruction was deliberate, a form of retribution for the Persian invasion of Greece. The differing accounts highlight how historical events can be subject to interpretation and mythologizing based on the records left by writers of differing times and perspectives.