Editing Aeneas (section)

===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>