Aeneas in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Aeneas

40 passages from 6 ancient authors that tell of Aeneas, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Aeneas was a Trojan hero in Greek mythology, son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. He is more extensively mentioned in Roman mythology... For the story in one place, read our article on Aeneas.

Homer (16)

Homer, Iliad 20.259–352Achilles and Aeneas fight; Poseidon rescues AeneasAeneas casts his spear, which pierces two layers of Achilles' shield but is stopped by the gold of the third, and Achilles' spear passes through Aeneas' shield and over his shoulder. Aeneas lifts a great stone, but Poseidon, pitying him, carries him high over the fighters to the rear of the battle and tells him not to fight Achilles again. Poseidon scatters the mist from Achilles' eyes.
Homer, Iliad 13.455–575Aeneas and Idomeneus; Deiphobus is woundedDeiphobus finds Aeneas, who is angry with Priam, and Aeneas stands against Idomeneus, who calls his comrades to him, and the two sides fight round the body. Idomeneus kills Oenomaus, and Deiphobus kills Ascalaphus, a son of Ares, while Meriones wounds Deiphobus in the arm and Polites leads him from the field. Aeneas kills Aphareus, Antilochus kills Thoon, and Adamas, who struck Antilochus' shield, is killed by Meriones.
Homer, Iliad 5.431–518Apollo rescues Aeneas; Ares rallies the TrojansDiomedes rushes at Aeneas three times, but Apollo thrusts him back and carries Aeneas to his temple in Pergamus, where Leto and Artemis heal him, while Apollo makes a phantom of Aeneas for the armies to fight over. Apollo rouses Ares to join the Trojans, and Ares rallies them in the likeness of Acamas. Sarpedon rebukes Hector, who rouses his men, and Aeneas returns to the fighting healed.
Homer, Iliad 5.166–296Pandarus and Aeneas against DiomedesPandarus complains that his arrow has not killed Diomedes and fears that a god stands beside him, and Aeneas persuades him to mount his car and face the Achaean. Sthenelus warns Diomedes, who refuses to flee and bids him seize Aeneas' horses, which are of the breed that Zeus gave to Tros. Pandarus' spear pierces Diomedes' shield, but Diomedes' spear passes through Pandarus' face and kills him.
Homer, Iliad 20.156–258Achilles and Aeneas exchange wordsAeneas and Achilles meet between the armies, and Achilles asks why Aeneas has come out to fight him, reminding him that he once chased him down Mount Ida after taking his cattle. Aeneas answers that he will not be frightened by words, and tells his descent from Dardanus through Tros, Ilus and Laomedon, saying that Zeus gives men strength as he wills.
Homer, Iliad 5.297–430Diomedes wounds AphroditeAeneas stands over the body of Pandarus, and Diomedes hurls a stone that crushes his hip, but Aphrodite wraps him in her robe and Diomedes pierces her hand. She drops her son, and Apollo covers Aeneas with a cloud while Iris leads the wounded goddess to Ares, who lends her his chariot to Olympus. Dione comforts her daughter, Athena mocks her, and Zeus tells Aphrodite that war is not her business.
Homer, Iliad 20.75–155Apollo rouses Aeneas; the gods sit apartAchilles wants above all to meet Hector, but Apollo, in the likeness of Lycaon, goads Aeneas into facing him. Aeneas protests that some god always stands beside Achilles, and Apollo answers that he too is the son of a goddess, Aphrodite, and should pray to the gods. Hera tells Poseidon and Athena that the gods should stand by Achilles, but Poseidon proposes that they sit apart on the wall of Heracles and join the fight only if Ares or Apollo begin it.
Homer, Iliad 5.519–626Hector and Ares drive the Achaeans backAeneas kills Crethon and Orsilochus, and Menelaus and Antilochus avenge them, killing Pylaemenes and Mydon. Hector, led by Ares and Enyo, drives into the Achaeans, and Diomedes, seeing Ares beside him, tells his men to give ground while keeping their faces to the Trojans. Hector kills Menesthes and Anchialus, and Ajax kills Amphius.
Homer, Iliad 16.508–631The fight over Sarpedon's bodyGlaucus, wounded in the arm, prays to Apollo, who heals him, and Glaucus then rouses Polydamas, Agenor, Aeneas and Hector to fight for Sarpedon. Hector leads the Trojans against Patroclus, who calls on the two Ajaxes to hold the body, and the two sides fight round it. Zeus spreads deadly strife over the body, and Hector gives ground.
Homer, Iliad 17.233–365The Achaeans rally round the body of PatroclusThe Trojans charge in a mass, hoping to drag the body away, and Ajax tells Menelaus to call the Achaean chiefs. The Achaeans fight over the body, and Ajax kills Hippothous. Apollo, in the likeness of Periphas, urges Aeneas to stand fast, and the Achaeans fall back, though fewer of them are killed because they guard one another in the throng.
Homer, Iliad 17.459–542Automedon and the horses of AchillesAutomedon drives among the Trojans and the Achaeans but cannot drive and fight at once, until Alcimedon takes the reins while he fights from the ground. Hector and Aeneas come to seize the horses, but Automedon calls to the two Ajaxes and Menelaus, and the two Trojans fall back. Automedon kills Aretus and strips him.
Homer, Iliad 6.1–118Helenus sends Hector to TroyThe Trojans give way before the Achaeans: Ajax kills Acamas and Diomedes kills Axylus, and Menelaus is about to spare Adrastus when Agamemnon kills him. Helenus tells Aeneas and Hector to hold the Trojans at the gates, and asks Hector to go to the city and have the older women offer a robe to Athena and vow twelve heifers if she will keep Diomedes from Troy. Hector rallies the host and leaves for Ilios.

4 more passages of Homer that name Aeneas

Pindar (1)

Pindar, Olympian Odes 6.1–105Olympian 6: for Hagesias — Iamus, son of ApolloPindar likens the opening of his ode to the building of a hall on golden pillars and praises Hagesias of Syracuse, an Iamid and victor with the mule-car, recalling Adrastus' lament for Amphiaraüs. He tells how Euadne, loved by Apollo, hid her child Iamus among the violets, where bees' honey fed him, and how Apollo later gave him the gift of prophecy and an oracle at Olympia. He closes by sending Aeneas to praise Hera and Stymphalus, and with a prayer to Poseidon.

Euripides (3)

Euripides, Rhesus 52–104First episode: Hector believes the Greeks are fleeing and armsHector says that the Argives are bent on slipping away in their ships by night, and that his seers had told him to wait for dawn, but darkness turns runaways into heroes. The Chorus Leader says that they do not know for certain whether the Greeks are fleeing. Aeneas arrives and asks why the sentinels have come through the army at night, and Hector tells him that the men are flying and girds on his sword.
Euripides, Rhesus 105–148First episode: Aeneas advises sending a spyAeneas says that Hector is bold but not wise in counsel, and warns him that leading the troops across the trench by night is dangerous if the enemy are waiting for him, and that Achilles is still to be reckoned with. He advises sending a spy to learn what the fires mean, and the Chorus agrees. Hector yields and asks who will volunteer.
Euripides, Rhesus 565–594Fourth episode: Odysseus and Diomedes find Hector's bivouac emptyOdysseus and Diomedes steal into the Trojan camp, using the password Phoebus, which they learned from Dolon, and find that Hector's bivouac is empty. Odysseus proposes going back to the fleet, and Diomedes asks whether they should not first go against Aeneas or Paris, and says that it would be shameful to return having done no harm. Odysseus answers that they have slain Dolon.

Ovid (8)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.75–157The Cercopes; the SibylAeneas sails past Scylla and Charybdis, is driven to Libya, where Dido, who loved him, kills herself, and comes to the island of the Pithecusae, where Zeus (Jupiter) turned the Cercopes into apes. At Cumae the Sibyl guides Aeneas to the underworld, and tells him how Apollo wooed her and granted her as many years as the grains of sand in her hand, but she forgot to ask for youth. She is now shrunken, and will in the end be only a voice.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.527–608The ships of Aeneas; Ardea; Aeneas becomes a godThe Rutulians set fire to Aeneas' ships, but Cybele turns them into sea-nymphs. Turnus is killed, and Ardea, his city, is burned, and a heron rises from the ashes. Aphrodite (Venus) asks Zeus (Jupiter) that Aeneas be made a god, and he is purified in the river Numicius and received among the gods, with the name Indiges.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.623–747Aeneas at Delos; Anius' daughters; ScyllaAeneas escapes from Troy with his father and his household gods and comes to Delos, where the king Anius shows them the temple and tells how his three daughters had the power of turning things into corn, wine and oil. Agamemnon tried to take them for the Greek army, and they escaped by prayer to Dionysus (Bacchus), who turned them into doves. Aeneas sails on past Sicily and the straits of Scylla and Charybdis, and the nymph Scylla asks the sea-nymph Galatea why she weeps.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.440–526Diomedes' companions; the wild oliveMacareus ends his tale, and Aeneas' nurse is buried at Caieta. Aeneas wins the daughter of King Latinus, and Turnus, to whom she was promised, makes war on him. Venulus is sent to Diomedes for help, and Diomedes refuses, telling of the sufferings of the Greeks on their return from Troy and of how his own companions were turned into birds after Aphrodite's (Venus') anger. He also tells of the Apulian shepherd who mocked the nymphs and was turned into a wild olive.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 15.745–879The deification of Julius Caesar; epilogueAphrodite (Venus), seeing the plots against Julius Caesar, begs the gods to save him, but the Fates cannot be altered, and she takes his soul from his body and sets it among the stars as a comet. Zeus (Jupiter, 'Jove' in More's translation) foretells the greatness of Augustus, and Ovid ends the poem with a prayer for the emperor, and the claim that his own work will outlast the thunder of Zeus and be read by men through all the ages.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.158–220AchaemenidesAt Caieta Macareus, an old companion of Odysseus (Ulysses), recognises Achaemenides, whom the Greeks had left behind when they fled from the Cyclops and who now follows Aeneas, and asks how he came there. Achaemenides tells of the cave of Polyphemus, of how Odysseus blinded the giant, and how he himself, left behind, was saved by a Trojan ship.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 15.359–476Pythagoras: the phoenix, the rise and fall of citiesPythagoras describes the transformations of living things: the birth of bees from cattle, of frogs from mud, and of the phoenix, which renews itself from its own pyre. He tells of the changes of sex in the hyena, and of the chameleon and the lynx. Cities, too, rise and fall: Troy, Sparta, Mycenae and Thebes have lost their strength, and Rome is rising. He ends with a plea not to kill animals for food and not to trap them by deceit.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 15.622–744Asclepius comes to RomeA plague strikes Rome, and the Romans, on the advice of the Delphic oracle, send for the god Asclepius (Aesculapius), son of Apollo, from Epidaurus. The god, appearing in a dream to the Roman envoys, agrees to go with them, and takes the form of a serpent and goes to the ship. He comes to Rome and, on the Tiber island, takes his own form and stops the plague. The poet notes that Asclepius came from abroad, but Caesar is a god in his own land.

Pausanias (2)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.12.1–9Mantinea: the roads to Methydrium and Orchomenus, Penelope's grave and Anchises' tombPausanias notes the sanctuary of Zeus Charmon and the oaks of Arcadia, including the cork oak whose bark is used for floats. On the road to Methydrium he tells how Alcimedon exposed his daughter Phialo and her child by Hercules, and how a jay's imitation of the baby's cries led Hercules to them. On the roads to Orchomenus are the stadium of Ladas, the mound the Mantineans say is Penelope's grave, the ruins of old Mantinea and the tomb of Anchises on Mount Anchisia.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.26.1–9Delphi: Polygnotus' painting of Troy after its capture (2): captive women, Epeus, Ajax and NeoptolemusPausanias continues the Polygnotus painting of Troy with the captive women Clymene, Creusa, Aristomache and Xenodice, and Epeus razing the wall with the Wooden Horse. He describes Ajax son of Oileus swearing an oath beside Cassandra and the image of Athena, the sons of Atreus, and Neoptolemus slaying Elasus and Astynous. He explains the bronze corselets of old, then Laodice, Medusa and a woman with a child.

Quintus Smyrnaeus (10)

Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 11.358–501The assault on the wallOdysseus' men lock their shields over their heads like a roof and press up to the wall under a hail of stones. Alcimedon, a Locrian, climbs a ladder and is struck down by Aeneas' stone. Philoctetes shoots at Aeneas and kills Medon, and Aeneas kills Toxaechmes.
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 11.129–282Apollo rouses the TrojansApollo comes to Aeneas and Eurymachus and fills the Trojans with courage, and they leap on the Greeks like wasps on bees. Neoptolemus rallies the Myrmidons and drives back the Trojans, until Aeneas stands against him. Dust fills the air so that friends kill friends, until Zeus clears the plain.
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 10.74–202Heroes in the slaughter; the arms of HerculesAeneas kills Harpalion and Hyllus, while Neoptolemus slays twelve Trojans with his father's spear. Eurymenes kills many until Meges strikes him down, and Paris, Teucer and Meges also kill, with digressions on Scylaceus' fate and on Endymion's cave. Philoctetes then ravages the Trojans, and the poet describes the belt and quiver of Hercules that he carries, decorated with beasts and scenes from myth.
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 6.451–651Eurypylus drives the Argives to the shipsPodaleirius arms in grief for his brother and kills Cleitus and Lassus. Eurypylus then drives the Argives toward the ships; Aias son of Oileus is struck down by a stone from Aeneas, and the Atreidae are surrounded until Teucer, Idomeneus and others rally. The Trojans charge as one man and the Argives flee, and only nightfall stops Eurypylus from burning the ships.
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 3.212–292The fight over Achilles' bodyThe Trojans, among them Glaucus, Aeneas and Agenor, close round the fallen Achilles to drag his body to Troy, but Aias bestrides it and thrusts them back, killing many. Glaucus threatens Aias, who answers with scorn and then kills him. Aeneas drags Glaucus' body away for the Trojans and, fighting on to strip Achilles, is pierced in the forearm by Aias and withdraws to Troy to be healed.
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 11.1–128The battle after Paris' deathThe Trojan women mourn in the city, but the young men go on fighting outside, for Strife and the Fates stalk through both armies. Neoptolemus, Aeneas, Philoctetes, Polydamas, Odysseus, Diomedes, Agamemnon, Thoas and Teucer kill in turn, and the dead are numbered.
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 11.283–357Athena turns the battleAthena comes into the fight for the Greeks, and Aphrodite snatches Aeneas from the field in a mist. The Trojans are broken and flee, and a remnant enters the city. At dawn the Argive chiefs attack the gates of Troy.
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 8.1–107Neoptolemus and the Myrmidons attackAt dawn Neoptolemus calls on the Myrmidons to fight and puts on his father's arms while Thetis rejoices from the sea. The armies clash like two seas meeting. Neoptolemus kills Melaneus and Alcidamas, and Aeneas kills Aristolochus.
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 13.297–414Aeneas escapes; Menelaus and HelenAeneas, seeing Troy burning, carries his father Anchises on his shoulders and leads his son out through the fire, guided by Aphrodite. Calchas tells the Argives to spare him because he is fated to found a great city by the Tiber. Menelaus kills Deiphobus in Helen's chamber and finds Helen, but Aphrodite strikes the sword from his hand and fills him with love, and his brother urges him not to kill her.
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 10.1–73Polydamas and Aeneas debateThe Trojans, still burning their dead, see the Argives coming and throw up a hasty mound. Polydamas advises them to hold the walls until the Danaans tire. Aeneas answers that they would starve and urges them to fight, and Strife draws the armies together.