Ascanius (;

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: Ἀσκάνιος) was a legendary king of Alba Longa (traditional reign: 1176 BC to 1138 BC) and the son of the Trojan hero Aeneas and of Creusa, daughter of

Priam In Greek mythology, Priam (; , ) was the legendary and last king of Troy during the Trojan War. He was the son of Laomedon. His many children included notable characters such as Hector, Paris, and Cassandra. Etymology Most scholars take the e ...

. He is a significant figure in

Roman mythology Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans, and is a form of Roman folklore. "Roman mythology" may also refer to the modern study of these representations, and to th ...

because of his family connections: as the son of the Roman ancestor-figure Aeneas (himself the son of the goddess Venus and the Trojan prince Anchises), and as a forebear of the Roman people. Under his additional name Iulus, he was claimed as the particular ancestor of the gens Iulia, the family of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

, and therefore a progenitor of the first line of Roman emperors, the

Julio-Claudian dynasty The Julio-Claudian dynasty comprised the first five Roman emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. This line of emperors ruled the Roman Empire, from its formation (under Augustus, in 27 BC) until the last of the line, Emper ...

. Some Roman genealogies also make him an ancestor of

Romulus Romulus (, ) was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of th ...

and Remus, the founders of the city of Rome itself. Like his father, Ascanius appears as a major character in

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

''.

Mythology

In Greek and

, Ascanius was the son of the Trojan prince Aeneas and Creusa, daughter of

. After the

Trojan War The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans (Ancient Greece, Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris (mytho ...

, as the city burned, Aeneas escaped to

Latium Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Definition Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil (Old Latium) on whic ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, taking his father Anchises and his child Ascanius with him, though Creusa died during the escape. According to

Dionysius of Halicarnassus Dionysius of Halicarnassus (, ; – after 7 BC) was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus. His literary style was ''atticistic'' – imitating Classical Attic Greek in its prime. ...

, Ascanius' original name was Euryleon and this name was changed to Ascanius after his flight from Troy. According to Virgil, Ascanius was also called Iulus or Julus. The gens Julia, the clan to which

belonged, claimed descent from Ascanius/Iulus, his father Aeneas, and, ultimately, the goddess

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

, the mother of Aeneas in myth, his father being the mortal Anchises. Amphora Aineias Ankhises 470 BC Staatliche Antikensammlungen

Dionysius however, identified Julus as a son of Ascanius who disputed the succession of the kingdom of Alba Longa with Silvius, upon the death of Ascanius. According to another legend mentioned by

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

, Ascanius may have been the son of Aeneas and Lavinia and thus born in

, not

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

. Ascanius later fought in the Italian Wars along with his father Aeneas. After the death of Aeneas, Ascanius became king of Lavinium and an Etruscan king named Mezentius took advantage of the occasion to besiege the city.Another tradition says that he was too young to reign and that Lavinia reigned in his stead for a number of years until he came of age, upon which, Ascanius founded Alba Longa and left Lavinia in charge of Lavinium, q.v. Dionysius of Halicarnassus ''Roman Antiquities'' 1.65 Mezentius succeeded in making the city surrender and agree to pay a yearly tribute. Upon his retirement, Ascanius fell upon him and his army unaware and entirely defeated Mezentius and killed his son Lausus. Mezentius was forced to agree to pay a yearly tribute. Subsequent to this, exactly thirty years after the founding of Lavinium, Ascanius founded the city of

Alba Longa Alba Longa (occasionally written Albalonga in Italian sources) was an ancient Latins (Italic tribe), Latin city in Central Italy in the vicinity of Lake Albano in the Alban Hills. The ancient Romans believed it to be the founder and head of the ...

and became its first king. He left Lavinia in charge of the city of Lavinium. Ascanius was succeeded by Silvius, who was either his younger brother or his son. Ascanius died in the 28th year of his reign.

''Aeneid''

However, in the ''

'',

claims that Mezentius fought in the Italian Wars at the time Aeneas was alive. In the Aeneid, it is Aeneas who kills Lausus after harming Mezentius, who escaped while his son faced the Trojan king. When the news about Lausus' death reaches Mezentius, he comes back to face Aeneas, and is killed too. In this account, Ascanius does not participate in these deaths. Nevertheless, Virgil shows Ascanius' first experience at war. In the ''Aeneid'', Ascanius is a teenager without real war experiences, but while besieged by the Italians, Ascanius launches an arrow against Numanus, the husband of the youngest sister of Turnus. After killing Numanus, Apollo comes and says to Ascanius: ''Macte nova virtute, puer: sic itur ad astra,'' ''dis genite et geniture deos.'' This phrase can be translated into English as: "Go forth with new value, boy: thus is the path to the stars; son of gods that will have gods as sons." or "Blessings on your fresh courage, boy, scion of gods and ancestor of gods yet to be, so it is man rises to the stars." In this verse, Virgil makes a clear reference to the offspring of Iulus, from whom

Augustus Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

claimed descent. Therefore, in this verse Virgil refers to the Gens Julia, the family of Augustus and

, who was deified after his death. Ascanius Shooting the Stag of Sylvia 1682 Claude Lorrain

'' Sic itur ad astra'' become proverbial, and several mottos use an ''ad astra'' phrase. After this episode, Apollo orders to the Trojans to keep Ascanius away from the war. In this same episode Ascanius, before launching the fatal arrow in Numanus, prays to Jupiter, saying: ''Jupiter omnipotens, audacibus annue cœptis'' ("Omnipotent Jupiter, please favour my bold attempt"). The last part of the

hexameter Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek as well as in Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of s ...

became the United States motto '' annuit coeptis''. The name Iulus was popularised by

in the ''

'': replacing the Greek name Ascanius with Iulus linked the Julian family of Rome to earlier mythology. The emperor

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

, who commissioned the work, was a great patron of the arts. As a member of the Julian family, he could claim to have four major Olympian gods in his family tree: (

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

, Juno,

and

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

), so he encouraged his many poets to emphasize his supposed descent from Aeneas.

Notes

References

, ''

Ab urbe condita ''Ab urbe condita'' (; 'from the founding of Rome, founding of the City'), or (; 'in the year since the city's founding'), abbreviated as AUC or AVC, expresses a date in years since 753 BC, 753 BC, the traditional founding of Rome. It is ...

'' Book 1. *

, ''Aeneid'', Book IX.

External links

The ''Aeneid'' in Latin

{{Authority control Characters in Roman mythology Characters in the Aeneid Kings of Alba Longa Kings in Greek mythology

Mythology

''Aeneid''

See also

Notes

References

External links