In Roman legend, the ancestor of the Romans. He was a Trojan hero, the son of Anchises and Venus, who escaped after the fall of Troy, bearing his father on his shoulders. After wandering through the Mediterranean, he reached Italy at Cumae and visited the Underworld, where the destiny of Rome was made clear to him. He married the daughter of the King of Latium, and allied himself to the Latins in local wars. His son founded Alba Longa, and a line of kings from whom Romulus was said to be descended.
Aeneas (Greek: Αινείας, Aineías) was a Trojan hero, the son of prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite (Venus in Roman sources). 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. Aeneas is a character in Homer's Iliad and Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida.
Mythology
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.
(From hereon, the Greek myths make room for the Roman mythology, so the Roman names of the gods will be used). 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. 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 Aeneas later traveled to Hades, he called to her ghost but she neither spoke nor acknowledged him.
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. According to Livy Aeneas was victorious but Latinus died in the war. Aeneas founded the city of Lavinium, named after his wife. Jupiter 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.
Family and legendary descendants
Aeneas had an extensive family tree. 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. 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.
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