Aeneas - mythology

The famous Trojan-Roman hero, a descendant of Zeus and Dardanus, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite, the founder of the power and glory of Rome. When she gave love to Anchises on the Trojan mountain Idi, Aphrodite told him that she would give birth to his son Aeneas, who would rule the Trojans. The goddess entrusted the child she conceived with the mortal to the nymphs immediately after birth, who handed him over to his father only when he was five years old. Alcata, the husband of Anchis' daughter Hippodamia, took care of his further upbringing.

At the time of the Trojan War, Aeneas was grazing cattle on Ida. It was there that he first met the greatest Greek hero, Achilles, who attacked his cattle. Aeneas fled to Lirnes, and when Achilles destroyed that city, the Trojan prince was saved by Zeus himself.

In the last year of the Trojan War, Aeneas, together with Antenor's sons, led the Dardanians. Because of his extraordinary courage, he enjoyed the greatest respect of Hector and the other Trojans. Aeneas first clashed with Diomedes; Aphrodite came to her son's aid, but Diomedes wounded them both and Aeneas survived only thanks to Apollo. Upon his return to the battlefield, Aeneas killed Creton and Orsilochus, and in the great battle for the ships, he clashed with Idomeneus, killed Afarei and helped Hector leave the battle. In front of Troy, Aeneas met Achilles again, who was the only one who could kill him. At a critical moment, Poseidon pledged that the gods would spare the lives of Aphrodite's son, who was destined to extend Dardan's lineage and rule the Trojans after the destruction of Troy.

In the last days of the war, Aeneas, with his father Anchis, son Askanius and wife Kreus, took refuge in Ida. Others say that he and his men bravely defended the upper part of the city and that he enabled women, children and the elderly to take refuge on Ida. It was only when Troy was on fire that Aeneas left the city, with the exhausted Anchises, the weak Askanius and the greatest Trojan shrines (picture below). On his way out of Troy, he noticed the disappearance of his beloved wife and returned to the city to rescue her. On Ida, Aeneas gathered the surviving Trojans and founded a new city with them.

The most famous legend is about the journey of Aeneas and his Trojans to the west, to Italy. After a short stay on Ida, Aeneas set out with his men for Thrace and Macedonia, and then, via Samothrace, Delo, Crete, Strofad, Zakynthos and Leukada, he reached the coast of Epirus, where he was warmly welcomed by Helen and Andromache. There Helen prophesied a long and painful journey for him, but he also comforted him: his sufferings will end when he founds a city in the place where a white pig, under a cherry tree, sucks thirty piglets. After visiting the prophecy in Dodona, Aeneas, across the Ionian Sea, reached the eastern shores of Italy and, sailing south, came to Sicily, where he founded the cities of Egesta and Elim. In Sicily, in Drepanon, Anchis died. According to Helen's instructions, Aeneas sailed from Sicily to the west coast of Italy, but the storm threw his ships to the African coast. With his men, he stayed for a while with the Carthaginian queen Dido, who fell in love with him. After fate determined Aeneas to found a city on Italian soil, Jupiter gave him an order to leave Africa via Mercury. Aeneas set out from Carthage accompanied by Dido's curses; the storm brought his ships to the shores of Sicily, and there, after being amicably received by Akest, he prepared funeral games in honor of Anchis. Aeneas left some of his companions in Sicily, and then set out for Italy and disembarked at Kuma. There, in a cave, he met the Kumei Sibyl; she prophesied to him that on Italian soil he would clash with the new Achilles, King Turnus, and that Juno would continue to persecute him with his hatred. At Aeneas' request to allow him to go down to Hades and see Anchises, Sybil replied that the gods only allowed a mortal who could gather a golden branch in a dark forest - a gift for Proserpine, the queen of the underworld. After reaching the golden branch, Aeneas, accompanied by Sybil, descended to Charon. There he talked with the shadows of his unburied comrades, and then entered the realm of the dead. There he met Minos, Dido and all the heroes of the Theban and Trojan Wars. In Tartarus, Aeneas saw the sufferings of great sinners, and in the fields of the blessed, in Elysium, he found Anchises, who presented him with the glorious future of Rome and showed him his descendants, all the glorious Romans.

When he came out of the underworld, Aeneas sailed further north and arrived in Lazio, at the mouth of the Tiber. There he was received amicably by King Latin and promised him his daughter Lavinia as his wife, as well as the place where he would found the city. These promises were opposed by Lavinia's mother Amata, as well as her fiancé Rutul King Turno. Juno, who hated Aeneas and all his Trojans, encouraged Turn to attack the newcomers. On the advice of King Euandra, Aeneas went to the Tyrrhenians to ask them for help. During his absence, Turno set fire to Aeneas' ships and stormed the Trojan camp. When Aeneas returned from thirty Allied ships, Turno was forced to retreat. In that fight, Aeneas killed Turn's allies, young Laus and his father Mezentius. As the losses on both sides were great, a truce was made. King Latin tried to prevent further conflicts, but Turno refused to negotiate peace. In the meantime, Aeneas reached the city of Laurent, and in the ensuing battle, the brave Camilla fell. On the news of her death, Turno rushed to the aid of his allies, but the night prevented further fighting. When he saw that his army was fainting, Turno decided to solve the war by a duel with Aeneas. While the heroes were preparing for the battle, Juno, through Turn's sister Juturna, led Rutula to start the fight again. In the general commotion, Aeneas was wounded, and Turno and his men began to sow desolation and death among the Trojans. Venus quickly healed her son and returned him to the battlefield; he attacked Laurent and caused disarray in the ranks of the enemy. When she realized that the battle would be lost, Queen Amata took her own life. Turno then hurried to deal with Aeneas; when he called him to divide the square, the armies parted, and Aeneas cried out with joy. The country groaned from their struggle, in which skill and courage merged into one. Turno attacked Aeneas with all his might with his sword, but his weapon broke and only a hilt remained in his fist. Aeneas chased the disarmed enemy across the field, until Juturna handed her sword to her brother. Jupiter then persuaded Juno to leave the battlefield and no longer protect Turn, promising her that even after Aeneas' victory, the natives would keep the customs and language of their ancestors, and that the Trojans would become Latins and use Latin. When Juno left her protégé to fate, Jupiter sent a fury to scare Juturna and drive her off the battlefield. At that moment, Turno felt his strength leave him and the end was near. As he looked for his sister, Aeneas swung his spear and wounded him in the thigh. The Rutul king fell to his knees and humbly asked Aeneas to return him, alive or dead, to his old father Down.Aeneas hesitated for a moment, but when he saw the belt of his friend Palant on Turn's shoulders, he was seized with rage and he plunged his sword into Turn's chest (picture below).

Little is known about Aeneas' further fate; it is said that he founded the city of Lavinium and that after the death of the Latin king he ruled the united Trojans and Latins. This unification gave Aeneas the courage to go to war against the much superior Etruscans. The Latins and the Trojans took the victory, but Aeneas was killed in the last battle. It is said that he was buried on the shores of Numik and that Venus begged Jupiter to transform her son into a deity. Having obtained the consent of the gods, she ordered Numika to take to the sea all that is mortal in Aeneas; Venus anointed his divine part with divine balm and ragweed, and then included his son among the gods. The Romans called this new deity Indiges.

The origin of the legend of Aeneas' wanderings is probably related to the cult of Aphrodite as the goddess of the sea and navigation. Her cult was established on the shores of the Mediterranean, in all the areas that are legendarily marked as waypoints on Aeneas' journey to Italy. Archaeological findings show that the Etruscans already knew about Aeneas and his escape from Troy at the turn of the 6th and 5th centuries AD. Through the Etruscans or through the Greek colony of Kuma, the Romans accepted the myth of Aeneas; legends about his travels were officially accepted at the beginning of the 3rd century AD in Rome and were harmonized with the Roman policy of conquest. The Romans saw in the legends of Aeneas the possibility of connecting with the most glorious gods and heroes of Troy and Greece, that is, of moving the beginnings of their history into the distant past.

The Romans considered Aeneas not only their great ancestor but also bestowed divine honors on him. From the 1st century AD, Aeneas was associated with the family of Julius (gens Iulia), ie with the ruling imperial dynasty.

Aeneas was depicted on vases of black-figure and red-figure style. He is represented on them in Greek clothes, less often in Frisian, and most often in scenes that show the battles in front of Troy, around Troy's, Patroclus 'or Achilles' corpse. In Roman art, Aeneas and Dido were often depicted, followed by funeral games on the occasion of Anchis 'death, Aeneas' encounter with Sybil, battles with the Rutuls, and Turn's death. From Pompeii, a caricature is known which depicts Aeneas, Anchises and Askanius with animal heads.

Literature:

• Dragoslav Srejović - Aleksandrina Cermanović-Kuzmanović, Recnik grčke i rimske mitologije, drugo izdanje, Beograd: Srpska književna zadruga, 1987