The journey of Aeneas

LAfter building a ship, Aeneas and his troop arrived in Thrace where Polydorus, the last son of king Priam, talked to him through a myrtle branch from which black blood flowed. Aeneas honoured the dead by making sacrifices and set sail again.

The arrival in Thrace

The island of Crete

Aeneas tought that the "acient mother" could be the island of Crete which was where Teuchrus, the founder of the Trojans, was born. Although, when he arrived there was a plague outbreak on the island. In the night the Penates, the protectors of the family, went in a dream to Aeneas and revealed to him that "the ancient mother" was Italy.

Aeneas and his family (made up of him, his wife Creusa, their son Ascanio Iulo and his father Anchise) were running away from the city but Creusa couldn't keep up with them and she died.

A painful death

The Siege of Troy

the Greek army, thanks to the ruse of the wooden horse, managed to enter the walls of Troy and set it on fire.

Virgil cites this city for an important battle won by Octavian Augustus: the Battle of Actium of 31 b.C. against Antionius and Cleopatra

Actium

Aeneas consulted the oracle in the temple of Apollo who said to find "the ancient mother" and found his new lineage there

The island of Delos

The Epirus: Butrotus

Arriving in the Epirus, Aeneas visits Butrotus, a city founded by the Trojan prince Elenus and his wife Andromache (the brother and widow of the hero and Trojan prince Hector).

The Cumaean Sibyl

Aeneas and his troops arrive at Cuma, at the Cuman Sibyl, which shows Aeneas the gate of the underworld at Lake Avernus. Aeneas goes down to the underworld and is brought by Charon on the river Acheron, so he comes to his father Anchise. He shows his son all his descendants (Romulus, Augustus...) and the glory that his new lineage will have.

Harpies

When Aeneas arrived at the Strofadi Islands he came up against a danger: the Harpies, monsters with the body of a bird and the head of a woman.

One day during a hunt a storm begins and Aeneas and Dido take refuge in a cave where they indulge in passion but are seen by Fame, a monster with 1000 eyes and 1000 tongues, which spreads the news and causes the wrath of one of Dido’s suitors who invokes Jupiter to his aid. Jupiter reminds Aeneas of his mission and the Trojan sails the next day leaving Dido. The queen in the night despairs and commits suicide.

Carthage

The goddess Juno, angry with the Trojans because Paris at the marriage of Peleus and Thetis had not chosen her as the most beautiful goddess (preferring the mother of Aeneas, Venus), unleashed a storm that wrecked the ships of Aeneas in Carthage. At the court of Queen Dido, who, thanks to an arrow fired by Cupid, had fallen in love with Aeneas and was ready to betray the vow of fidelity made on her husband Sicheus' tomb, Aeneas recounts the journey made in the last seven years from the siege of Troy to the shipwreck.

Anchise's death

After having sailed to the land of the Cyclops, seeing Polyphemus with his blind eye (act that the cunning Odysseus did to save himself and his companions) and other locations. Aeneas and his troops arrive at Drepano, in Sicily, where his father Anchise dies.

The arrival in Lazio

Aeneas arrives in Lazio at the court of the king of the Latins, Latino. He had a daughter named Lavinia who according to an oracle has to marry a foreigner and found a glorious lineage. So the king marries Lavinia and Aeneas

The Fury of Amata and Turno

Lavinia’s mother, Amata, opposes the marriage as does the previous betrothed of Lavinia, Turno the King of the Rutuli. Therefore Juno takes the place of Latino and opens the doors of the temple of Janus, a sign that between these peoples and in ancient Rome meant war. Thus begins the war between Trojans and Rutuli.

The war and the victory of the Trojans

The Trojans led by Aeneas are allied with the city of Pallanteo where king Evander reigns and sends both armaments and a troop led by his son Pallas, they also ally with other Etruscan civilizations in the area. The Rutuli instead ask the Volsci for help. Many young people die in battle, both Pallas and Camilla but also friends of Aeneas. Turno decides to challenge Enea to a duel to end the battle and he agrees. In the first part of the duel Juno helps Turno but then leaves him to his fate provided that when Aeneas and Lavinia form their lineage it will take the name, customs, and traditions of the Latins. Aeneas founds a city called Lavinio, his son Ascanio Iulo instead will give life to a lineage, the gens Iulia and will merge Alba Longa, the birthplace of Romulus.