Aeneas
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Aeneas is the son of the goddess Aphrodite and the mortal Anchises.
Anchises was a cousin of King Priam of Troy, which made Aeneas a Trojan prince. The son of a goddess who had no intention of raising him herself, Aeneas was raised first by nymphs and then by his father. During the Trojan War, he fought for Troy. Then, when Troy was burned, Aeneas set out, leading a band of followers, with his aged father on his shoulders, the household gods (penates) in hand, and accompanied by Ascanius, his son (who would later be called Iulus).
Aeneas traveled to Thrace, Carthage (where he met Queen Dido), and the Underworld, before settling down in Latium (in Italy). There he married the king's daughter, Lavinia. Their son, Silvius, became the king of Alba Longa. Along with Romulus, Aeneas is considered one of the founders of Rome.
The story of the adventures of Aeneas on his odyssey from Troy to Rome is familiar especially to students of high school Latin from the epic poem The Aeneid, by Vergil (Virgil).
Read an adaptation of it in Rose Williams' The Labors of Aeneas - What A Pain It Was To Found The Roman Race.
Aeneas is the hero of Vergil's (Virgil's) 12-book epic poem the Aeneid. In the Aeneid, the tragic queen Dido of Carthage commits suicide when Aeneas abandons her.
Aeneid Glossary | Rome Timeline
