f'lrn to I''oy' 1l>j"j

her father Asopus and brought to the uninhabited island, at council of war the Greek leaders who were to accomPany
"t*:,::;"- sanias7.24.2.1
that time called Oenone or Oenopia. Answering the prayers of his son Aeacus,
who grew up alone on the island, Zeus peopled the place by changing the ants Aegle' SeeTnrsuus [E] '
were twin sonsof
to men and women, whom Aeacus called Myrmidons. Aeacus gained a reputa- Aelyptus. A king of nlypt' Aegyptus and DeNeus [A]
Anchino€, fh"i. q""tJ-La to Danaiis' fight to Argos and his
tion for piety and just dealings and enjoyed a long and peaceful reign' Be- s"1,.,.
"rrd 2' r'4-5']
causehe exiled Telarnon and Peleus,his two sons by Endeis, for killing Pho' daughters'murder of Aegyptus' sons' [Apollodoms
of Rome'
cus, his son by Psamathe, Aeacus had no heirs and the island fell under the i"rr""r. A Trojan leJ"r and ancestor of the ffrst emPerors -
was the son of Aphrodite by ANcHrsrs' a member of the royal
domination of Argos. When the Heraclids took Epidaurus, Aegina became A. Aeneas
reared by nymphs and brought
Dorian territory. line of Dardania. Bom on Mo,rrrt lda, he was
Anchises was maimed by Zeus for re-
Aegipan, A PanJike mythological Personagewhose name means "Goat- to Anchiseswhen he was five years old'
the name of the child's mother' Aeneas grew uP to be the leader of the
Pan." Classical writers could not decide whether Aegipan was only another ;""[tg
of
name of Pan or whether he was a different character entirely. Hyginus, quot- p^rJ"illun troops, which were under the high command o[ Hector' son
and perhaps the domination
ing earlier writers, called him a son of Zeus by the nymph Aex or by the goat Pri"-. A".r""s iesented his subordinate Position'
Boetis. Aex was said to be a daughter of Helius or of Pan, but some writers oflliumoverhisnativecity,whichwasolder'Nevertheless,afterbeingdriven
in defense of Ilium in the Tro-
seem to have regarded her as a goat (as her name implies)-indeed, as the par- from Mount Ida by Achilles, he fought bravely
wounded' h" *"1 spirited irom the ffeld by his mother and
ticular goat whose skin became Zeus's aegis. Aegipan and Hermes recovered ian War. Seriously
;". (""t"d by Artemis l'ater Apollo urged him to chal-
Zeus's stolen sinews, which Typhcieus had severed and hidden with the mon- i;il;; "''j-L"to' from the battle' explaining to the
lenge Achilles, but Poseidon removed him
ster Delphyne. Later Aegipan recommended that the gods change their shapes
destined to rule Troy'
to escapeTyphdeus in Egypt. He himself became a goat with the lower body oth"ergods that Aeneas and his descendantswere
the tradition in Homer's day, it was later altered to assign
of a fish, and was commemorated in this form by Zeus in one or the other of Iithis was
Rome' (According to the Lif-
two constellations,Capricorn and Capra. IHyginus, Fabube, r96, and Poetica Aeneas an even greater destiny: that of founding
tle ltiad [r4], Aeneas was captured and given as a slave to Neoptolemus; in
Astronomica,2. 13,2.28i Apollodorus r.6'3.]
d"'"'t"d t'oy and returned to Mount lda in fear of
aegis. The shield of Zeus. This awesome piece of armor, when used by the Sock'oiiiu* [r], he
tradition is the
zeus, paralyzed his enemies with terror. Zeus lent it often to Athena, less fre- the omen of Laocoiin's death') By far the most prominent
quently to Apollo. Some scholarshave argued that the aegis was the private RomanonedetailedbyVergilin\isAeneid'AtthefallofTroy'Aeneasleft
thundercloud of the sky-god, whose unfailing weaPon was lightning. Others .thebumingcitywhenheco"uldnolongerdefendit.HecarriedtheagedAn-
gods (penates)of the Tro-
say that it was merely an Olympian version of a primitive Hellenic shield chises on f,i Ua"t and took with him the household
their escape Aeneas' wif3, Cieisl' became separated from him
made from the hide (aigis) of a goat. jans. During
Aegisthus. The son of Thyestes by his daughter, Pelopia. Exposed by his anddied,buttheirson,Iiilus,remainedwithhisfatheruntiltheyreachedlda'
mother and suckled by a goat (aix, aigos), from which he took his name, Ae- (AccordingtoApollodorus,theGreeksallowedAeneastoleaveoutofrespect
gisthus was reared by Arnsus tC, Dl , who had married Pelopia. Leaming his for his filial piety.)
with twenty shiploads of
true identity, the youth killed Atreus. When Atreus' son AcevrruroN [A' C], With the coming of summer, Aeneas sailed away
were warned away
king of Mycenae, left for Troy, Aegisthus ignored a waming from Hermes and his followers. They intended to found a city in Thrace' but
who had been treacherously murdered
seduced Clytemnestra, Agamemnon's wife' The lovers killed Agamemnon on by the ghost of Pri.m's son Polydoms,
Lld f i"ttd Anius, king of Delos' they were ad-
his return, together with Cassandra, and Aegisthus ruled Mycenae for seven th"ru. Siopping with Anchis"r'
years. By Clytemnestra he had a daughter, Erigone, and, some say, a son, Al- rrisedtoseektheir'.ancientmother,,'whichAnchisestooktomeanCrete,
met with
etes. Agamemnon's son Onnsrrs [A] returned from exile and avenged his fa- home of their ancestor Teucer. They reached that island only to be
homeland of Dardanus' was to be
ther by killing both Aegisthus and his own mother, Clytemnestra. hrnine and told by their penates that ltaly,
their home. Driven Uy ,^to.- to the Strophades Islands' they were plundered
Aegisthus is a principal character in Aeschylus' Orestekt trilogy, in Sopho- " found
cles'Electra, and in Seneca'sAgomemnon' See also Homer, Odgssey, r'29-43, by the Harpies and wamed of many periis to come before they could
somewhat lessened when
5.249-27 S, 4.524-SS7 i Hyginus, Fabulae,87, 88, r r 9. their new fft" Trojans' disc'ouragement was
"iry. there Priam's son He-
Aegium. A seaport of Achaea on the Gulf of Corinth. Aegium claimed the they reached Buthrotum and fiound ruling Prophetic
honor of having been the city at which Agamemnon called together for a lenus. Thanks to Helenus' directions, Aeneas' ships safely reached Drepanum'
2l
20

ft

:J;" re*rr" of Eryx in western Sicily. There Anchises died and was buried
with great honor.
B, As the Trojans left Sicily to sail northward, Juno (Hera) commanded
Aeolus, keeper of the winds, to destroy the Trojan fleet. The goddesshad not
forgotten her anger at Venus (Aphrodite) for winning the golden apple, and at
the Trojans for awarding it and lor their descent from Electra, one of Zeus's
mistresses.Moreover, she knew that the Trojans' descendants,the Romans,
were destined one day to destroy Carthage, her hvorite city. Juno's evil de-
signs on the Trojan fleet were foiled, however, by Neptune (Poseidon),who
calmed the sea.
Aeneasreached Carthage in safety. Venus sent her son Cupid (Eros), dis-
guised as Aeneas' son Ascanius (another name for Iiilus), to cause Dido, the
Carthaginian queen, to fall in love with Aeneas. Dido's husband, Sychaetis,
had been murdered by her brother Pygmalion in their native Tyre, and she
hersell had not long been in Carthage. She warmly welcomed the Trojans,
whose story she knew. Her love for Aeneas was returned so eagerly that the
Trojan forgot his destiny in Italy and had to be twice reminded of it by Mer-
cury (Hermes). Finally he sailed away. The inconsolablequeen killed herself,
Iamentedby her sister,Anna.
Landing again in Sicily, where they were entertained by a kinsman,
Acestes,Aeneas held funeral games in Anchises' honor. The Trojan mothers,
instigated by Juno and wearied by seven years of voyaging, burned some of
the ships in the hope that they might remain in the friendly land of Eryx with
Acestes.Aeneasallowed the oldest and most discouragedmembers of his mm-
pany to remain and found the city of Acesta, while he and his more vigorous
followerspressedon to Italy.
On reaching Cumae, near Naples, Aeneas visited the prophetic Sibyl and
asked her to guide him to the Underworld to consult Anchises, whose ghost
had commanded him to undertake that journey. The Sibyl consentedto do so
after Aeneas had plucked a magical golden bough in a nearby wood. On the
shore of the river Styx they encounteredthe souls of the unburied dead whom
the ferryman, Charon, would not allow to cross into Hades. Among these was
Palinurus, one of Aeneas' steersmen,who had been washed overboard during
the northward joumey. Aeneas promised to bury him. Charon, on seeing the
golden bough, ferried Aeneas and the Sibyl acrossthe Styx.
Among the souls in Hades, Aeneas met that of Dido, who, reunited with
the soul of her husband, would not recognize him. In the Elvsian Fields he
found Anchises, who showed his son uaio,r, souls waiting to be rebom at
some future time. Anchises then predicted the founding of Rome by Aeneas'
descendants, and, reassured, Aeneas returned to the upper world and sailed
with his followers for their destined home. They anchored in the Tiber River,
in the land called Latium. The king of this region was the aged Latinus, son of
Faunus, and a direct descendantof Saturn (Cronus). The neighboring Rutuli-
22
AENEAS
ans were ruled by young Turnus, a descendantof the Argive princessDanae,
who had founded the city of Ardea after her adventures with her son Perseus.
Turnus had long cpurted Latinus' daughter Lavinia, whose mother, Amata,
had encouragedhim. Latinus, however, knew from oracles that his daughter
must marry a foreigner. He therefore welcomed Aeneas' ambassadorsand
hinted that Aeneaswas to become his son-in-law.
C. Before the two kings could meet, the implacable Juno stepped in.
Fetching the Fury Alecto from Hades, she had her stir up both Amata and
Turnus against the strangers,then cause a needlessquarrel between Latins
and Trojans. Refusing to declare war, Latinus abdicated and Juno herself
opened the gates of the temple of Janus, the signal of war. Turnus took as his
allies Aventinus, a son of Heracles; Camilla, the Amazon-like leader of the
Volscians;and Mezentius, an exiled Etruscan king. Turnus failed, however, to
enlist the aid of the Greek Diomedes, who was having too many troubles of his
own in his recently founded city of Argyripa. Aeneasfound a friend in the Ar-
cadian Evander, who ruled Pallanteum, on the site of the later city of Rome.
Himself too old for war, Evander sent his son Pallas with the Arcadian troops.
The Etruscans,too, aided Aeneas,out of hatred for the cruel Mezentius.
A bloody war ensued. Turnus' men ffred Aeneas' ships, only to see them
change into sea-nymphsand swim away-a miracle caused by the Phrygian
goddess Cybele. Turnus killed Pallas and wore his belt as a prize of war.
Aeneaskilled Mezentius and his son, Lausus. During a truce many of Turnus'
allies turned against him, but rallied to the cause again when the Trojans at-
tacked. Camilla was killed in battle and her troops were routed. Turnus and
Aeneasagreed to settle the outcome of the war by single combat, but the Lat-
ins broke the truce at Juno's instigation. Aeneaswas wounded, but was cured
by Venus. The Trojans again besieged the Latins' city, and Amata, thinking
Turnus dead, killed herself. Again Turnus suggestedsingle combat. Aeneas
consentedand sorely wounded Turnus. About to grant his adversary'srequest
to be carried to his aged father Daunus to die, Aeneas caught sight of Pallas'
belt vauntingly displayed on Turnus' armor. He killed Turnus, thus ending the
war.
Aeneas now made peace with the Latins and married Lavinia. The Tro-
jans gave up their name and language,while the Latins agreed to worship the
penates of the foreigners.As Anchises' shade had predicted, Silvius, Aeneas'
son by Lavinia, founded the city of Alba Longa, which was to remain the cap-
ital of the Latins until the founding of Rome by Aeneas'descendantRomulus,
many generationslater. Iiilus, moreover, would give his name to the Julian
house, which boasted the caesarsJulius and AuEustusamong its distinguished
members.
D. Aeneasffgured prominently in Homer's llind and',apparently, in several
works of the Epic Cycle, now mostly lost. His adventuresbeginning with the
fall of Troy were the subject of Vergil's Aenetd. Ovid sketchedAeneas'tale in
23