Aeneas
/ɪˈniːəs/proper noun
The Trojan prince who escaped the sack of Troy and, in Roman tradition, founded the line that led to Rome.
The Greek roots
Literally: “the dread one, by the poet's pun”
The story of the word
The Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite explains the name as it is handed over: the goddess says the boy will be called Αἰνείας because of the αἰνὸν ἄχος, the dread grief, that came on her for lying with a mortal. In Homer he is a secondary figure who is nonetheless promised by Poseidon that he and his children will rule the Trojans, a prophecy Roman writers found extremely convenient. Virgil built the Aeneid on it, and the family that traced its descent from Aeneas through his son Iulus was the Julii.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
In a sentence
Aeneas leaves Troy with his father on his back and his household gods under his arm.
Dido's curse on Aeneas is where the Romans located the origin of the Punic wars.