According to Roman mythology, Amata (also called Palanto) was the wife of

Latinus Latinus ( la, Latinus; Ancient Greek: Λατῖνος, ''Latînos'', or Λατεῖνος, ''Lateînos'') was a figure in both Greek and Roman mythology. He is often associated with the heroes of the Trojan War, namely Odysseus and Aeneas. Alth ...

, king of the

Latins The Latins were originally an Italic tribe in ancient central Italy from Latium. As Roman power and colonization spread Latin culture during the Roman Republic. Latins culturally "Romanized" or "Latinized" the rest of Italy, and the word Latin ...

, and the mother of their only child,

Lavinia In Roman mythology, Lavinia ( ; ) is the daughter of Latinus and Amata, and the last wife of Aeneas. Creation It has been proposed that the character was in part intended to represent Servilia Isaurica, Emperor Augustus's first fiancée. Stor ...

. In the Aeneid of Virgil, she commits suicide during the conflict between Aeneas and

Turnus Turnus ( grc, Τυρρηνός, Tyrrhênós) was the legendary King of the Rutuli in Roman history, and the chief antagonist of the hero Aeneas in Virgil's ''Aeneid''. According to the ''Aeneid'', Turnus is the son of Daunus and the nymph Veni ...

over which of them would marry Lavinia. When Aeneas asks for Lavinia's hand, Amata objects, because she has already been promised to Turnus, the king of the Rutulians. Hiding her daughter in the woods, she enlists the other Latin women to instigate a war between the two. Turnus, and his ally Mezentius, leader of the Etruscans, are defeated by Aeneas with the assistance of the Pelasgian colonists from Arcadia and Italic natives of

Pallantium Pallantium ( grc, Παλλάντιον) was an ancient city near the Tiber river on the Italian peninsula. Roman mythology, as recounted in Virgil's ''Aeneid'' for example, states that the city was founded by Evander of Pallene and other ancient ...

, led by that city's founder, the

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

Evander of Pallene In Roman mythology, Evander (from Greek ''Εὔανδρος'' Euandros, "good man" or "strong man": an etymology used by poets to emphasize the hero's virtue) was a culture hero from Arcadia, Greece, who was said to have brought the Greek pantheo ...

. The story of this conflict fills the greater part of the seventh book of Virgil's '' Aeneid''. When Amata believes that Turnus had fallen in battle, she hangs herself. Amata's suicide is also referred to in Canto 17 of '' Purgatorio'', the second canticle of Dante Alighieri's '' Divine Comedy'', to demonstrate dreadful effects of anger. Dante imagines a mournful Lavinia, reproaching her mother, Amata, for the grief which her suicide has inflicted. Parallels have been drawn between Dante and his representation of Amata in ''Purgatorio''. After his exile from Florence and the

Black Guelph The Guelphs and Ghibellines (, , ; it, guelfi e ghibellini ) were factions supporting the Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign ...

takeover, Dante may have experienced that same self-recrimination experienced by Amata, which led to her suicide.

References

* Characters in Roman mythology Characters in the Aeneid Mythological queens Latins (Italic tribe) {{AncientRome-myth-stub