Editing Trojan War (section)

===''Aeneid''===
{{Main|Aeneid}}

The journey of the Trojan survivor Aeneas and his resettling of Trojan refugees in Italy are the subject of the Latin epic poem the ''[[Aeneid]]'' by Virgil. Writing during the time of [[Augustus]], Virgil has his hero give a first-person account of the fall of Troy in the second of the ''Aeneid''{{'}}s twelve books; the Trojan Horse, which does not appear in the ''Iliad'', became legendary from Virgil's account.

Aeneas leads a group of survivors away from the city, among them his son [[Ascanius]] (also known as Iulus), his trumpeter [[Misenus]], father [[Anchises]], the healer [[Iapyx]], his faithful sidekick Achates, and [[Mimas (Aeneid)|Mimas]] as a guide. His wife [[Creusa (wife of Aeneas)|Creusa]] is killed during the sack of the city. Aeneas also carries the [[Lares]] and [[Penates]] of Troy, which the historical Romans claimed to preserve as guarantees of Rome's own security.

[[File:Aeneas' Flight from Troy by Federico Barocci.jpg|thumb|left|''Aeneas Flees Burning Troy'' (1598) by [[Federico Barocci]]]]
The Trojan survivors escape with a number of ships, seeking to establish a new homeland elsewhere. They land in several nearby countries that prove inhospitable, and are finally told by an oracle that they must return to the land of their forebears. They first try to establish themselves in Crete, where [[Dardanus (son of Zeus)|Dardanus]] had once settled, but find it ravaged by the same plague that had driven Idomeneus away. They find the colony led by Helenus and Andromache, but decline to remain. After seven years they arrive in [[Carthage]], where Aeneas has an affair with [[Dido (Queen of Carthage)|Queen Dido]] (since according to tradition Carthage was founded in 814 BC, the arrival of Trojan refugees a few hundred years earlier exposes chronological difficulties within the mythic tradition). Eventually the gods order Aeneas to continue onward, and he and his people arrive at the mouth of the [[Tiber|Tiber River]] in Italy. Dido commits suicide, and Aeneas's betrayal of her was regarded as an element in the long enmity between Rome and Carthage that expressed itself in the [[Punic Wars]] and led to Roman hegemony.

At [[Cumae (Italy)|Cumae]], the [[Sibyl]] leads Aeneas on an archetypal [[descent to the underworld]], where the shade of his dead father serves as a guide; this book of the ''Aeneid'' directly influenced [[Dante]], who has Virgil act as his narrator's guide. Aeneas is given a vision of the future majesty of Rome, which it was his duty to found, and returns to the world of the living. He negotiates a settlement with the local king, [[Latinus]], and was wed to his daughter, [[Lavinia]]. This triggered a war with other local tribes, which culminated in the founding of the settlement of [[Alba Longa]], ruled by Aeneas and Lavinia's son [[Silvius (mythology)|Silvius]]. [[Roman mythology|Roman myth]] attempted to reconcile two different [[founding myth]]s: three hundred years later, in the more famous tradition, [[Romulus]] founded Rome after murdering his brother [[Remus]]. The Trojan origins of Rome became particularly important in the propaganda of [[Julius Caesar]], whose family claimed descent from [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] through Aeneas's son Iulus (hence the Latin {{lang|la|[[gens]]}} name ''Iulius''), and during the [[Principate|reign of Augustus]] (see for instance the {{lang|la|[[Tabulae Iliacae]]}} and the "[[Lusus Troiae|Troy Game]]" presented frequently by the [[Julio-Claudian dynasty]]).