Roman mythology Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these representa ...

, Caieta ( grc, Καιήτη, ''Cāiēta'') was the

wet-nurse A wet nurse is a woman who breastfeeds and cares for another's child. Wet nurses are employed if the mother dies, or if she is unable or chooses not to nurse the child herself. Wet-nursed children may be known as "milk-siblings", and in some cu ...

Aeneas In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...

. The Roman poet

Vergil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

locates her grave on the bay at Gaeta, to which she also gives her name (''cf.'' Caietae Portus). The poet

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

, working a generation later, provides an epitaph: ::HIC • ME • CAIETAM • NOTAE • PIETATIS • ALVMNUS ::EREPTAM • ARGOLICO • QVO • DEBVIT • IGNE • CREMAVIT "Here me, Caieta, snatched from Grecian flames, my pious son consumed with fitting fire." The fourth-century commentator

Servius Servius is the name of: * Servius (praenomen), the personal name * Maurus Servius Honoratus, a late fourth-century and early fifth-century grammarian * Servius Tullius, the Roman king * Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the 1st century BC Roman jurist See ...

writes that there was some controversy about whose wet-nurse Caieta was: in addition to Aeneas, he offers Creusa and Ascanius as possibilities.

''In Vergili Aeneidem Commentarii'' 7.1

References

Characters in Roman mythology Characters in the Aeneid Wet nurses Women in mythology {{AncientRome-myth-stub