The Aeneid People and Places

Aeneus

protagonist; son of Venus; destined to flee Troy and found Rome

Dido

Queen of Carthage; brother killed her husband, so she fled Tyre with the treasure he wanted and settled in Carthage

Tyre

Dido’s old kingdom that she fled

Troy

site of Trojan War; fell to the Greeks

Carthage

Dido’s new city; favorite city of Juno; located in Northern Africa

Juno

queen of the gods; hates Trojans and Aeneus especially

Jove/Jupiter

Juno’s husband; king of the gods

Venus

goddess of love; won most beautiful goddess and low-key caused the Trojan War by letting Paris marry Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world

Helen

“the face that launched a thousand ships”; married to Menelaus, a Greek king, and then taken as the bride of the Trojan prince Paris

Pygmalion

brother of Dido; killed her husband and is very greedy

Ascanius

Aeneas and Creusa’s young son

Anchises

Aeneas’s aged father; very pious character

Creusa

Aeneas’s wife at Troy, and the mother of Ascanius. Creusa is lost and killed as her family attempts to flee the city, but tells Aeneas he will find a new wife at his new home.

Sinon

The Greek youth who pretends to have been left behind at the end of the Trojan War. Sinon persuades the Trojans to take in the wooden horse as an offering to Minerva, then lets out the warriors trapped inside the horse’s belly.

Achates

A Trojan and a personal friend of Aeneas.

Aeolus

king of the winds; respects and helps Juno

Cupid

another son of Venus; disguises himself and makes Dido fall for Aeneas as his mother’s request

Minerva

on the side of the Greeks in the Trojan War; also not chosen as the most beautiful goddess; ally of Ulysses (Odysseus)

Ulysses

Odysseus; led the warriors against Troy; not painted in a favorable light by Aeneus

Achilles

Greek hero; father of Pyrrhus; killed in the Trojan War

Hector

son of Trojan King Priam; killed in the Trojan War by Achilles; body dragged behind chariot as he died but ultimately properly returned to his family

Pyrrhus

son of Achilles; kills Priam and his son Polites in front of their whole family; considered less noble than his father

King Priam

old king of Troy; tries to fight a bit, but his wife begs him to stay at the altar with the rest of the family; watches Pyrrhus kill one of his sons and then also gets killed

Polites

King Priam’s son who is killed by Pyrrhus in front of his family

Hecuba

wife of King Priam; has a lot of kids; goes to the palace altar for the final hours of Troy

Paris

Trojan prince who judged the goddess beauty contest; married Helen as a reward for choosing Venus, essentially starting the Trojan War

Rome

essentially the “New Troy” that the descendants of Aeneas are supposed to start; mythological start with twins Romulus and Remus