J. R. R. Tolkien derived the characters, stories, places, and languages of Middle-earth from many sources, especially medieval ones. Tolkien and the classical world have been linked by scholars, and by Tolkien himself. The suggested influences include the pervasive classical themes of divine intervention and decline and fall in Middle-earth; the splendour of the Atlantis-like lost island kingdom of Númenor; the Troy-like fall of Gondolin; the Rome-like stone city of Minas Tirith in Gondor; magical rings with parallels to the One Ring; and the echoes of the tale of Lúthien and Beren with the myth of Orpheus descending to the underworld. Other possible connections have been suggested by scholars.
In Roman legend, Aeneas escapes the ruin of Troy, while in Tolkien's legendarium, Elendil escapes Númenor. Painting Aeneas Flees Burning Troy by Federico Barocci, 1598
Decline and fall: the shattered ruins of the Roman city at Baalbek
Like the pantheon of Greek gods, Tolkien's Valar behave as a group, and act in Middle-earth through what appears as luck, or fate.
Tolkien's fire-serpents are paralleled by Virgil's great serpents that kill the Trojan priest Laocoön and his sons in the fall of Troy.
Minas Tirith
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Minas Tirith is the capital of Gondor in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. It is a seven-walled fortress city built on the spur of a mountain, rising some 700 feet to a high terrace, housing the Citadel, at the seventh level. Atop this is the 300-foot high Tower of Ecthelion, which contains the throne room.
Tolkien called Minas Tirith a "Byzantine City": that empire's capital was Constantinople (shown).
The lifeless White Tree of Gondor has been compared to the Dry Tree (pictured) of medieval legend. Manuscript illustration dated 1444 of the Dry Tree (centre) with the Phoenix, flanked by the Trees of the Sun and the Moon. Both the Dry Tree and the Phoenix are symbols of resurrection and new life. Rouen 1444-1445