Aeneas
:
This article is about the Trojan warrior. For the sportsman, see Aeneas Williams. Aeneas (
Greek: Αινείας,
Aineías) was a
Trojan hero, the son of prince
Anchises and the goddess
Aphrodite (
Venus in Roman sources). His father was also the cousin of King
Priam of Troy. The journey of Aeneas from Troy, which led to the founding of the city that would one day become
Rome, is recounted in
Virgil's
Aeneid. He is considered an important figure in
Greek and
Roman legend and history. Aeneas is a character in
Homer's
Iliad and
Shakespeare's
Troilus and Cressida.
In the
Iliad, Aeneas is the leader of the
Dardanians (allies of the Trojans), and a principal lieutenant of
Hector, son of the Trojan king
Priam. In the poem, Aeneas's mother
Aphrodite frequently comes to his aid on the battlefield: he is also a favorite of
Apollo. Aphrodite and Apollo rescue Aeneas from combat with
Diomedes of
Argos, who nearly kills him, and carry him away to Pergamos for healing. Even
Poseidon, who normally favors the Greeks, comes to Aeneas's rescue when the latter falls under the assault of
Achilles, noting that Aeneas, though from a junior branch of the royal family, is destined to become king of the Trojan people.
As seen in the first books of the
Aeneid, Aeneas is one of the few survivors (or, in this sense, a Trojan who was not killed in battle or enslaved) of Troy's fall. When Troy was
sacked by the Greeks, Aeneas, seeing the futility of defending a razed city, gathered a group, collectively known as the
Aeneads, who then traveled to
Italy and became progenitors of the
Romans. The Aeneads included his trumpeter
Misenus, his father
Anchises, his friends
Achates,
Sergestus and
Acmon, the healer
Iapyx, his son
Ascanius, and their guide
Mimas. He carried with him the
Lares and
Penates, the statues of the household gods of Troy, and transplanted them to
Italy.
|
Aeneas tells Dido about the fall of Troy, by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin. |
After a brief, but fierce storm sent up against the group at
Juno's request, Aeneas and his fleet made landfall at
Carthage. Aeneas had a brief affair with the
Carthaginian queen Elissa, also known as
Dido, who proposed that the Trojans settle in her land and that she and Aeneas reign jointly over their peoples. Once again, this was in favor of Juno, who was told of the fact that her favorite city would eventually be defeated by the Trojans' descendants. However, the messenger god
Mercury was sent by
Jupiter and Venus to remind Aeneas of his journey and his purpose, thus compelling him to leave secretly and continue on his way. When Dido learned of this, she ordered a funeral pyre to be constructed for herself; and standing on it, she uttered a curse that forever would pit Carthage against the Trojans. She then committed suicide by stabbing herself in the chest. When Aeneas later traveled to
Hades, he called to her ghost but she neither spoke or acknowledged him.
The company stopped on the island of
Sicily during the course of their journey. After the first trip, before the Trojans went to Carthage,
Achaemenides, one of
Odysseus' crew who had been left behind, traveled with them. After visiting Carthage, the Trojans returned to Sicily where they were welcomed by
Acestes, king of the region and son of the river
Crinisus by a
Dardanian woman.
Soon after arriving in Italy, Aeneas made war against the city of
Falerii.
Latinus, king of the
Latins, welcomed Aeneas's army of exiled
Trojans and let them reorganize their life in
Latium. His daughter
Lavinia had been promised to
Turnus, king of the
Rutuli, but Latinus received a prophecy that Lavinia would be betrothed to one from another land — namely, Aeneas. Latinus heeded the prophecy, and Turnus consequently declared war on Aeneas at the urging of
Juno, who was aligned with King
Tarchon of
the Etruscans and Queen
Amata of the
Latins. Aeneas' forces prevailed. Turnus was killed and his people were captured. According to
Livy Aeneas was victorious but Latinus died in the war. Aeneas founded the of city
Lavinium, named after his wife. He later welcomed Dido's sister,
Anna Perenna, who then committed suicide after learning of Lavinia's jealousy.
After his death, his mother,
Venus asked
Zeus to make her son immortal.
Zeus agreed and the river god
Numicius cleansed Aeneas of all his mortal parts and
Venus anointed him with Ambrosia and Nectar, making him a god. Aeneas was recognized as the god
Indiges. Inspired by the work of
James Frazer, some have posited that Aeneas was originally a
life-death-rebirth deity.
Aeneas had an extensive family tree. His
wet-nurse was
Caieta, and he was the father of
Ascanius with
Creusa, and of
Silvius with Lavinia. The former, also known as
Iulus (or Julius), founded
Alba Longa and was the first in a long series of kings. According to the mythology outlined by Virgil in the
Aeneid, Romulus and Remus were both descendants of Aeneas through their mother, making Aeneas progenitor of the Roman people. Some early sources call him their father or grandfather [
1], but, considering the commonly accepted dates of the fall of Troy (
1184 BC) and the founding of
Rome (
753 BC), this seems unlikely. The
Julian family of Rome, most notably
Julius Cæsar and
Augustus, traced their lineage to Ascanius and Aeneas, thus to the goddess Venus. The legendary
kings of Britain also trace their family through a grandson of Aeneas,
Brutus.
*
Homer,
Iliad II, 819-21; V, 217-575; XIII, 455-544; XX, 75-352;
*
Apollodorus,
Bibliotheke III, xii, 2;
*
Apollodorus,
Epitome III, 32-IV, 2; V, 21;
*
Virgil,
Aeneid; *
Ovid,
Metamorphoses XIV, 581-608;
*
Ovid,
Heroides, VII.
*
Livy, Book 1
