Lavinium

Lavinium was an ancient Roman city of Latium.

According to Roman mythology the city was named by Aeneas in honor of Lavinia, daughter of Latinus, king of the Latins, and his wife, Amata. Aeneas reached Italy and there fought a war against Turnus, the leader of the local Rutuli people. He did not found Rome but Lavinium, the main centre of the Latin league, from which the people of Rome sprang. Aeneas thus links the royal house of Troy with the Roman republic.The foundation of Lavinium and the Rutulian war are both mentioned prominently in the great Roman epic, the Aeneid by the Mantuan poet Publius Vergilius Maro (Virgil). More recently, the city is the setting of the modern epic poem, The Laviniad by Claudio R. Salvucci.

The modern town of Lavinio now stands on the site of ancient Lavinium.