Ascanius

A son of Aeneas by Creusa,1 or by Lavinia.2 From Livy it would seem that some traditions distinguished between an earlier and a later Ascanius, the one a son of Creusa, and the other of Lavinia.

After the fall of Troy, Ascanius and some Phrygian allies of the Trojans were sent by Aeneas to the country of Dascylitis, whose inhabitants made Ascanius their king; but he soon returned to Troy, and ruled there after the death of his father, who, according to some traditions, had likewise returned to Troy.3 Another legend made Ascanius found a new kingdom at Scepsis in Troas, in conjunction with Scamandrius, the son of Hector.4 Others again, according to whom his original name was Euryleon, made him accompany his father to Italy and succeed him as king of the Latins.5

Livy states that on the death of his father Ascanius was yet too young to undertake the government, and that after he had attained the age of manhood, he left Lavinium in the hands of his mother, and migrated to Alba Longa. Here he was succeeded by his son Silvius. According to Dionysius,6 Silvius was a younger brother of Ascanius, and disputed the succession with Julus, a son of Ascanius. The dispute was decided in favor of Silvius. Servius7 states, that Ascanius was also called Ilus, Julus, Dardanus, and Leontodamus. The gens Julia at Rome traced its pedigree up to Julus and Ascanius.8

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References

Notes

  1. Virgil. Aeneid ii, 666.
  2. Livy. History of Rome i, 1, 3; Servius on Virgil's Aeneid vi, 760.
  3. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, i, 47, 53.
  4. Strabo. Geography xiii, 607.
  5. Dionysius, i, 65.
  6. i, 70.
  7. on Virgil's Aeneid i, 271.
  8. Heyne. Excursus viii.; on Aeneid i.

Source

  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.

This article incorporates text from Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) by William Smith, which is in the public domain.