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bough to give to Proserpina, queen
of the Underworld and wife of Dis;
the bough ensured them safe
passage with the ferryman Charon
across the River Styx. The Sibyl
then sedated the guard dog,
Cerberus, with a drugged honey
cake. In the Underworld, Aeneas
spoke to the ghost of Dido, but she
turned away from him without a
word. Anchises was overjoyed to
see his son, however, and stretched
out his arms. Aeneas tried in vain
to embrace his father, but his arms
closed on empty air. Then, as theyAENEAS, FOUNDER OF ROME
Aeneas descends into a nightmarish
underworld, depicted here by Flemish
painter Jacob Isaacsz van Swanenburg
(ca. 1600 ce). Virgil’s vision influenced
many Christian images of hell.walked with the Sibyl beside the
river Lethe, Anchises prophesied
the founding of Rome. To further
impress on his son the importance
of his mission, Anchises showed
him a parade of the spirits of the
great Romans who would be born,
including Romulus, Julius Caesar,
and Augustus. Aeneas then
returned to the world of light.The promised land
As they sailed up the west coast of
Italy toward the Tiber River,
Aeneas and his followers skirtedthe island of the enchantress Circe,
daughter of the Sun. There, they
heard the howls and cries of the
men whom she had turned into
wild animals—lions, boars, bears,
and wolves. The sea god Neptune
sent them favorable winds that took
them safely past.
The Trojans landed in Latium,
at the Tiber’s mouth, and laid out
their first meal on platters of crusty
bread, piling them high with freshly
harvested fruit and vegetables.
They were so ravenous that they
ate not only the meal but the bread
platters. Aeneas’s son Ascanius
joked that they were even eating
the tables. Realizing that this
fulfilled the harpy’s prophetic curse,
Aeneas and his followers knew they
had found the place to build their
city, and Jupiter thundered three
times in confirmation.
Aeneas did not plan to conquer
Latium with a hostile invasion.
Instead, he paid court to Lavinia,
the daughter of King Latinus, who
was said to be the son of the godAeneas flees Troy
with his father
Anchises after his
wife’s ghost tells him
he must find the land
of the Tiber.In Delos, Aeneas
offers sacrifices
to Apollo but
misunderstands
clues about the site
of his future city.In Crete,
Aeneas has a
vision in which
the gods tell him
to travel to Italy.The Harpies
attack Aeneas
after he is blown
off course to
their home on
the Strophades
islands.In love with
Dido, queen of
Carthage,
Aeneas only
leaves her
when the gods
remind him of
his fate.Timeline of events in the Aeneid
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