Aeneas

A Trojan hero who escaped the fall of Troy and became the legendary ancestor of the Romans. Virgil’s epic presents his journey to Italy as the foundation of Rome’s destiny.

Aeneid: Virgil’s Latin epic poem recounting Aeneas’s flight from Troy and journey to Italy. It is the central literary account of Aeneas’s life and Roman mission.
Pietas: A Roman virtue of duty toward gods, family, community, and obligations. It names the principle that repeatedly directs Aeneas’s choices over private desire.
Greek mythology: The body of myths about the gods, heroes, and origins of the ancient Greeks. Aeneas appears in Greek traditions before Roman poets make him Rome’s ancestor.
Romulus and Remus: Twin brothers in Roman legend, with Romulus credited as the founder of Rome. Their founding story follows Aeneas’s arrival in Italy by several generations.
Fall of Troy: The capture and destruction of Troy by the Greeks after a prolonged siege. Aeneas’s escape from the city begins the journey narrated in the epic.
Fate: A power or order that determines events beyond the control of human beings. Prophecy makes Aeneas’s arrival in Italy a destined outcome, despite delays and resistance.
Homer: The ancient Greek poet traditionally credited with composing the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Iliad depicts Aeneas as a Trojan warrior whom the gods preserve for a future dynasty.
Julius Caesar: A Roman general and politician whose family claimed descent from Aeneas’s son Iulus. The Julian family’s claimed ancestry linked Caesar to the Trojan hero.
Dido: The legendary queen of Carthage who hosts Aeneas and becomes his lover in the Aeneid. Their doomed relationship tests Aeneas’s duty to leave Carthage for Italy.
Roman founding myth: The traditional stories explaining Rome’s origins, including both Trojan ancestry and the founding by Romulus. Aeneas’s mission supplies Rome with an ancestral beginning before its legendary city-founding.

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