The Mythology Book

99

prophecy, advised him to seek the

land of his ancestors. Aeneas

therefore sailed to Crete, home of

the Trojan ancestor Teucrus, but

he was directed by the gods in a

vision to instead go to Italy, home

of his ancestor Dardanus.

Next, Aeneas met the Harpies,

fierce female-faced bird creatures.

One cursed Aeneas, prophesying

that he would reach his goal only

when dire hunger forced the group

to eat their tables. They sailed to

Sicily, where Aeneas’s elderly father

died, and then set off for Italy, but

the wind god Aeolus—by order of

Juno, who hated the Trojans—sent

their ships wildly off course.

Taking shelter in the north

African city of Carthage, Aeneas

met the queen, Dido; it was to her

that he told the story of his flight

from Troy. Encouraged by Venus,

Aeneas and Dido fell in love and

consummated their passion in a

cave during a storm. When Jupiter

heard of this, he sent his messenger

Mercury to remind Aeneas to leave

Carthage to found a new city.

The tragic queen

On hearing of her lover’s departure,

Dido asked her sister Anna to build

a sacrificial pyre, and she threw

herself upon it. From the flames,

she could see Aeneas’s ships

leaving, so she thrust his sword

through her body. To end her agony,

Juno sent Iris, the rainbow, down to

earth, to release her soul by

snipping a lock of Dido’s hair as an

offering to Dis, ruler of the

underworld. As Aeneas sailed away

from Carthage, he looked back and

saw the smoke of the funeral pyre.

He did not learn of Dido’s suicide

until later, when he met her shade

in the Underworld.

Aeneas seeks his father

Returning to Sicily, Aeneas held

funeral games to commemorate his

dead father, Anchises. Meanwhile,

Juno, still bearing her ancient

grudge and anxious to delay

Aeneas’s quest, inspired the

Trojan women to set fire to the

ships. Jupiter sent down torrential

rain to extinguish the flames and,

in a vision, Anchises urged Aeneas

to pursue his quest and to meet

him in the Underworld. Aeneas

sailed on and—despite the loss of

his helmsman, Palinurus, who fell

overboard—finally reached Italy.

Anxious to see his dead father

again, Aeneas was advised by the

Sibyl of Cumae to pluck a golden ❯❯

See also: Hades and the Underworld 48–49 ■ The quest of Odysseus 66–71 ■ The labors of Herakles 72–75 ■

The founding of Rome 102–03 ■ The Sibyl of Cumae 110–11

ANCIENT ROME

5. Dido condemns
   Rome and Carthage
   to eternal enmity
   after Aeneas
   abandons her.

Dido stabs herself as Aeneas and

his followers set sail from Carthage,

bound for Italy. This miniature is from

a vellum copy of the Aeneid made in

France in 1469.

1. Hector comes
   to Aeneas in a dream
   and tells him to flee
   Troy and found
   Lavinium.


2. Creusa’s ghost
   tells Aeneas that he
   is destined to found
   a city in Italy.


3. A harpy
   prophesies that
   the Trojans will face
   starvation and eat
   their own tables.


4. Jupiter tells
   Venus that Aeneas
   will wage war in Italy
   and crush
   his enemies.

Prophecies about Aeneas

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