Aeneas

Aeneas
Founder of Rome
Iapyx removing an arrowhead from the leg of Aeneas, with Aeneas's son, Ascanius, crying beside him. Antique fresco from Pompeii.
AbodeRome
Personal information
ParentsAnchises and Aphrodite
SiblingsLyrus
Consort
Offspring
Aeneas flees burning Troy, Federico Barocci, 1598 (Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy)

In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (/ɪˈnəs/ ih-NEE-əs,[1] Latin: [äe̯ˈneːäːs̠]; from Ancient Greek: Αἰνείας, romanizedAineíās) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus).[2] His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons of Ilus, founder of Troy), making Aeneas a second cousin to Priam's children (such as Hector and Paris). He is a minor character in Greek mythology and is mentioned in Homer's Iliad. Aeneas receives full treatment in Roman mythology, most extensively in Virgil's Aeneid, where he is cast as an ancestor of Romulus and Remus. He became the first true hero of Rome. Snorri Sturluson identifies him with the Norse god Víðarr of the Æsir.[3]

  1. ^ "Aeneas". Merriam-Webster. 2015. Retrieved 2015-07-14.
  2. ^ J. Mira Seo (2013). Exemplary Traits: Reading Characterization in Roman Poetry. Oxford University Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-19-973428-3.
  3. ^ The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturlson Translated by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur [1916] Prologue II at Internet Sacred Texts Archive. Accessed 11/14/17