Lavinia

The daughter of king Latinus and queen Amata of Laurentum. She was initially betrothed to Turnus, the king of the Rutuli, but her father gave her in marriage to Aeneas. A grim battle ensued between Aeneas and Turnus, described in one of the last books of Virgil's epic Aeneid, ending with Turnus' death. Aeneas married Lavinia and became by her the father of Ascanius or Silvius. He also founded the city of Lavinium in Latium, which he named after his wife.

Some traditions describe her as the daughter of the priest Anius, in Delos.1

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References

Notes

  1. Dionysius, i. 50; Origo Gentis Romanae, 9.

Sources

  • Dionysius, i, 70.
  • Livy. The History of Rome i, 1.
  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.
  • Virgil. Aeneid vi, 761; vii, 52 ff.; xii, 194, 937.