Editing Aeneas (section)

==Greek myth and epos==

===Homeric ''Hymn to Aphrodite''===
[[File:William Blake Richmond - Venus and Anchises - Google Art Project.jpg|upright=1.5|''Venus and Anchises'' by [[William Blake Richmond]] (1889 or 1890)|thumb]]

The story of the birth of Aeneas is told in the ''Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite'', one of the major [[Homeric Hymns]]. Aphrodite has caused [[Zeus]] the king of the Gods to fall in love with mortal women. In retaliation, Zeus decided to put a desire over her heart for the mortal Prince Anchises, who is tending his cattle among the hills near [[Mount Ida (Turkey)|Mount Ida]]. When Aphrodite saw him, she was immediately smitten. She adorns herself as if for a wedding among the gods and appears before him. He is overcome by her beauty, believing that she is a goddess, but Aphrodite identifies herself as a [[Phrygia]]n princess. After they make love, Aphrodite reveals her true identity to him and Anchises fears what might happen to him as a result of their liaison. Aphrodite assures him that he will be protected and tells him that she will bear him a son to be called Aeneas. However, she warns him that [[Taboo#In religion and mythology|he must never tell]] anyone that he has lain with a goddess. When Aeneas is born, Aphrodite takes him to the [[nymph]]s of Mount Ida, instructing them to raise the child to age five, then take him to Anchises.<ref name=":0" /> According to other sources, Anchises later brags about his encounter with Aphrodite, and as a result is struck in the foot with a thunderbolt by Zeus. Thereafter he is lame in that foot, so that Aeneas has to carry him from the flames of Troy.<ref>Virgil, ''Aeneid''</ref>

===Homer's ''Iliad''===
[[File:Aineias Ankhises Louvre F118.jpg|thumb|left|Aeneas carrying [[Anchises]], black-figured [[oinochoe]], {{circa}} 520–510&nbsp;BCE, [[Musée du Louvre|Louvre]] (F&nbsp;118)]]
Aeneas is a minor character in the ''[[Iliad]]'', where he is twice saved from death by the gods as if for an as-yet-unknown destiny but is an honorable warrior in his own right. Having held back from the fighting, aggrieved with Priam because in spite of his brave deeds he was not given his due share of honor, he leads an attack against Idomeneus to recover the body of his brother-in-law Alcathous at the urging of [[Deiphobus]].<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Homer]] |title=The Iliad |translator=Samuel Butler |year=2019 |orig-year=1999 |others=transcribed by A. Haines |via=[[Project Gutenberg]] |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2199/2199-h/2199-h.htm}}</ref> He is the leader of the Trojans' [[Dardanians (Trojan)|Dardanian]] allies, as well as a third cousin and principal lieutenant of [[Hector]], son and heir of the Trojan king [[Priam]].

Aeneas's mother [[Aphrodite]] frequently comes to his aid on the battlefield, and he is a favorite of the Sun God [[Apollo]]. Aphrodite and Apollo would frequently rescue Aeneas from combat with [[Diomedes]] of [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]], who nearly kills him, and carry him away to [[Pergamos]] for healing. Even the Sea God [[Poseidon]], who usually favors the Greeks, comes to Aeneas's rescue after he falls under the assault of [[Achilles]], noting that Aeneas, though from a junior branch of the royal family, is destined to become king of the Trojan people.

Bruce Louden presents Aeneas as an archetype: The sole virtuous individual (or family) spared from general destruction, following the [[mytheme]] of [[Utnapishtim]], [[Baucis and Philemon]], [[Noah]], and [[Lot (biblical person)|Lot]].<ref>{{cite conference |last=Louden |first=Bruce |title=Aeneas in the Iliad: The one just man |type=abstract |conference=102nd Annual Meeting of Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS) |year=2006 |url=https://camws.org/meeting/2006/abstracts/louden.html}}</ref> Pseudo-Apollodorus in his ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' explains that "...&nbsp;the Greeks [spared] him alone, on account of his piety."<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] |title=Epitome |editor-first=James G. |editor-last=Frazer  |at=V, 21 |publisher=[[Tufts University]] |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DEpitome%3Abook%3DE%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D21}}</ref>  [[Heinrich Schliemann]] wrote that it seemed "extremely probable that, at the time of Homer's visit [to the Troad], the King of Troy declared that his race was descended in a direct line from Æneas."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schliemann |first1=Heinrich |title=Troy and Its Remains: A Narrative of Researches and Discoveries Made on the Site of Ilium, and in the Trojan Plain |date=1875 |publisher=John Murray |location=London |page=19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TZhAAAAAYAAJ |access-date=21 March 2025 |language=en}}</ref>

===Other sources===
The Roman mythographer [[Gaius Julius Hyginus]] ({{circa|64 BCE}} – CE 17) in his ''[[Fabulae]]''<ref>Hyginus, ''[[Fabulae]]'' 115.</ref> credits Aeneas with killing 28 enemies in the Trojan War. Aeneas also appears in the Trojan narratives attributed to [[Dares Phrygius]] and [[Dictys of Crete]].