The Aeneid — who's who

The central figure of the poem. Son of the goddess Venus and the mortal Anchises. Survives the fall of Troy by carrying his father out of the burning city on his back; loses his wife Creusa in the smoke. Storm-driven to Carthage in Book 1, loves and leaves Dido in Book 4, descends to the underworld in Book 6, arrives in Italy in Book 7, fights the war for Lavinia in VIII–XII. Called pius — devoted, dutiful — more than any other word in the poem, with steady ambiguity. Kills Turnus in the final lines.

Aeneas's mortal father, once the lover of Venus in his youth. Old and frail when Troy falls; Aeneas carries him out of the burning city on his back. Travels with the fleet through the years of wandering and dies peacefully in Sicily before they reach Italy. In Book 6, Aeneas descends to the underworld and finds him in the Elysian Fields, where he shows his son the parade of unborn Roman souls. The scene is the philosophical heart of the poem.

Aeneas's young son, also called Iulus. The Julian line — Julius Caesar, Augustus — claimed descent from him through this name. A child during Troy's fall, led by the hand through the burning city. Leads the Trojan boys in mounted exercises during the funeral games for Anchises in Book 5. In Book 9, with his father away, he makes his first kill in battle — Apollo himself comes down to congratulate him and tell him to fight no more.

Aeneas's wife in Troy. Lost during the escape from the burning city — Aeneas turns and finds her gone, retraces his steps through the smoke, calls her name in the empty streets. Her ghost appears to him and tells him not to grieve: she is held by the gods; he must seek a new kingdom in the west, and a new wife. She vanishes three times as he tries to embrace her. The scene is one of the most painful in the poem.

The widowed queen of Carthage, who has built a great city in exile after her husband Sychaeus was murdered by her brother. Receives the storm-battered Trojan fleet, listens to Aeneas tell the story of Troy, and falls catastrophically in love with him during a hunt interrupted by a divine storm. When Jupiter orders Aeneas to leave, she rages, pleads, and finally kills herself on a funeral pyre with the sword he leaves behind, cursing his line. In Book 6, her shade in the underworld turns away from Aeneas without speaking.

Betrothed to the Latin princess Lavinia before Aeneas arrived to claim her. Incited by Juno's fury Allecto, raises an army against the Trojans and breaks King Latinus's peace. Kills young Pallas in Book 10 and strips his sword-belt as a trophy. Refuses peace in Book 11; challenges Aeneas to single combat in Book 12. Defeated, wounded, and surrendering — he is killed in the final lines of the poem when Aeneas sees Pallas's belt on his shoulder.

The aged king of the Latins. Welcomes the Trojans in Book 7 and offers Aeneas his daughter Lavinia in fulfillment of an oracle. Juno's interference undoes the peace; the king cannot hold his people back from war. In Book 11 he calls a war council and urges peace, but is overruled. A weary king caught between fate and his own people, witness to the final duel that ends the war.

The daughter of King Latinus, promised to Aeneas in fulfillment of a prophecy. Her mother Amata and the Rutulian prince Turnus oppose the match, and the war breaks out over her. She has very few lines in the poem — Virgil shows her almost entirely through what is done over her, around her, for and against her. Turnus fights and dies for her. Aeneas's victory secures her as his bride and unites the two peoples.

An old Greek exile who has founded a small settlement on the Palatine — the future site of Rome. Welcomes Aeneas as a kinsman, walks him through the landscape that will one day be the Forum, and sends his only son Pallas to fight at his side. Receives Pallas's body in Book 11 with a grief so terrible Virgil pauses the war to grieve with him.

The young son of King Evander, sent by his father to fight alongside Aeneas. Aeneas promises to bring him home safe and treats him as a son. Fights heroically in his first real battle in Book 10, but is killed by Turnus, who strips his sword-belt as a trophy. His death becomes the emotional core of the war and the proximate cause of Aeneas's killing of Turnus in the poem's final lines.

A maiden warrior dedicated to the goddess Diana, swift enough to run across wheat without bending the stalks. Listed among the warriors rallying to Turnus in Book 7. Leads the Volscian cavalry in a brilliant charge in Book 11; kills many Trojans before being struck down by a javelin from ambush. Virgil mourns her death in the same word — indignant — that he will use four books later for Turnus.

The priestess of Apollo at Cumae in Italy. Aeneas comes to her in Book 6 to ask for entry to the underworld; she foretells the wars he will face in Italy and guides him through the world below to the Elysian Fields where his father Anchises waits. The descent and return are her work. She speaks the most famous line in the poem about the underworld: easy is the descent — the climb back is the hard one.

The supreme Olympian. Bound, in Virgilian theology, by fates set down before any of this began; he administers them rather than authoring them. Reassures Venus in Book 1 that Aeneas's destiny is secure — Rome will be founded, Augustus will rule. Sends Mercury to Carthage in Book 4 to order Aeneas on. Forbids the gods from interfering in Book 10; brokers the final peace with Juno in Book 12.

Wife and sister of Jupiter, implacable enemy of Troy ever since Paris judged Venus more beautiful than her. Sends the storm that opens the poem in Book 1; conspires with Venus to bring Aeneas and Dido together in Book 4; unleashes the fury Allecto in Book 7 to incite the war in Italy. Yields to fate at the end of Book 12 — but only on the condition that the Trojans take the Latin name and language. She does not lose so much as negotiate terms.

Mother of Aeneas, counterweight to Juno on Olympus. Pleads with Jupiter for her son's safety in Book 1; appears to him disguised as a huntress and guides him to Carthage. Reveals to him in Book 2 the gods who are destroying Troy. Persuades Vulcan to forge divine armor for him in Book 8. Heals his wound with a magical herb in Book 12 so he can return to the final duel.