Anatolian Descendants of Aeneas

By Owain Williams

Aeneas is likely most well-known for his status as the ancestor of the Romans, an attribution solidified by Virgil’s Aeneid. First appearing in the Iliad as a related ally of the Trojans, fighting bravely against the Achaeans (and needing to be saved by his mother, Aphrodite), Virgil describes his subsequent travels, before he, and the Trojan refugees travelling with him, settle in Italy. From these Trojans, according to Virgil, the Romans are descended.

Aeneas’ association with Italy, and Rome more specifically, is fairly firmly entrenched. However, the earliest versions of Aeneas’ story suggest that he remained in western Anatolia. In the Iliad, for example, Poseidon prophesizes:

In the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, Aphrodite, Aeneas’ mother, tells Anchises:

There was clearly a tradition where Aeneas ruled at Troy after the Achaeans departed and ruled there. It is possible that there was a royal family in the region that claimed descent from Aeneas. It is a natural conclusion, based on the appearance of these prophecies. Indeed, Strabo records how there was an aristocratic family in Scepsis, in western Anatolia, who had previously been kings, that claimed descent from Aeneas (13.1.52–53). It is possible that these passages were specifically written with the families claiming descent from Aeneas – the Aineiadai – in mind, especially when one considers the emphasis the prophecies place on descendants. Unfortunately, as with so many things in the ancient world, we will never truly know for certain.

How Aeneas came to be considered an ancestor of the Romans will be discussed in  AH 51!