ROMAN MYTHOLOGY AND SAGA 645Map 26.2. Map of Early Rome. (© Laszlo Kubinyi, 1994.)Thus there was Homeric authority for the development of Aeneas' saga af-
ter the fall of Troy. There are many irreconcilable variations in his legend before
Vergil, but his wanderings over the Aegean and Mediterranean and his arrival
in Italy seem to have become traditional quite early, and he was associated with
a number of shrines of Aphrodite in the areas to which he was said to have trav-
eled. The fifth-century Greek historian Hellanicus recorded his arrival in Italy,
and he was well known to the Etruscans. At Veii, for example, a number of stat-
uettes have been found, dating from about 500 B.c., showing Aeneas carrying
Anchises from Troy, and the same scene appears on seventeen Greek vases from
the same period found in Etruria. His travels were narrated in the epics on the
Punic Wars by Naevius (who died shortly before 200) and Ennius, and it is pos-
sible that Naevius introduced his meeting with Dido into the tradition.