Aeneas Journey to Cumae

Book XIV 75-100

• After the Trojans had escaped Scylla and Charybdis, they were really close to the Ausonian shore, they ended up in Libya
• They left the new city of Carthage carrying Aeneas's half brother Acestes
• Acestes is the son of Venus
• While Aeneas was there, he visited his father's grave
• He set sail again, passed the Aeolian islands , the kingdom of Aeolus, and the rocky isle of the Sirens
• Source:http://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Ovhome.htm

Aeneas at Cumae

• "It is fitting for me,therefore,to focus on the legend of Aeneas at Cumae, revisit some basic issues pertaining to the locale, and pursue some kind of connections in which any Vergilian passage is endemically rich." Karl Gilinsky
• Before Aeneid, Cumae was not the original arriving place of Aeneas in Italy.
• "Aeneas' landfall in Italy is essentially Vergils innovation."
• Source: Jstor
• Aeneas At Cumae by Karl Gilinsky Vergilius (1959-) Vol. 55(2009) pp 69-87

Information about Cumae

• Ancient city, that is 12 miles west of Naples
• Oldest greek colony
• Home of Sibyl
• When Aeneas left Carthage, leaving behind Queen Dido, he returned to Depranum in Sicily, then he crossed Cumae.
• Source(s): http://www.maicar.com/GML/Sibyl6Cumaean.htm
• http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/146364/Cumae

Aeneas

• Son of Aphrodite and Anchises.
• Hero of Troy and Rome.
• Vergil wrote the legend of Aeneas and his life.
• Queen Dido: Aeneas fell in love with her, his wife had died, Aeneas had to eventually leave, Dido commited suicide.
• Aeneas Death: died in battle, then was known/worshipped as a God
• Source

In the Steps of Aeneas

• "While Aeneas is admiring the temple, The Cumaean Sibyl accosts him and leads him to her cave. This cave is hollowed out from the rock below the Temple of Apollo,the topography being somewhat similar to that of Delphi."
• Temple of Apollo: first built in 7th century B.C., located in Delphi
• Source(s):
• http://ancient-greece.org/architecture/delphi-temple-of-apollo.html
• "In the Steps of Aeneas" by P. O'R Smiley, Greece and Rome Vol 17 No. 51(Oct 1948) pg 97-103

The Sibyl of Cumae

• Oracle that passed down by word of mouth by one hundred people
• The latin word Sibyl comes from an Ancient Greek word "sybillia" meaning prophetess
• There are various names for it;Amaltheia, Demophile, Deiphobe, Herophile, Taraxandra.
• In the Middle Ages, both the Virgil and Sibyl Cumae were considered prophets of the birth of Christ
• Michaelangelo featured the Cumaean Sibyl in the Sistine Chapel with the Old Testament Prophets.
• TheSibyl lived for about 1,000 years
• Source:
• http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Thread/825892