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. Aeneas was raised first by nymphs and then by his father. During the Trojan War, Aeneas fought as an ally of 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 Aeneas 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 from the Aeneid by Vergil (Virgil).
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.
