Amata | |
|---|---|
| Queen ofLatins | |
| Spouse | Latinus |
| Issue | Lavinia |
According toRoman mythology,Amata/əˈmeɪtə/ (also calledPalanto) was the wife ofLatinus, king of theLatins, and the mother of their only child,Lavinia. In theAeneid ofVirgil, she commits suicide during the conflict betweenAeneas andTurnus over which of them would marry Lavinia.
When Aeneas asks for Lavinia's hand, Amata objects, because she has already been promised to Turnus, the king of theRutulians. Hiding her daughter in the woods, she enlists the other Latin women to instigate a war between the two. Turnus, and his allyMezentius, leader of theEtruscans, are defeated by Aeneas with the assistance of the Pelasgian colonists from Arcadia andItalic natives ofPallantium, led by that city's founder, theArcadianEvander of Pallene. The story of this conflict fills the greater part of the seventh book ofVirgil'sAeneid. When Amata believes that Turnus had fallen in battle, she hangs herself.[1][2][3]
In Canto 17 ofDante Alighieri'sPurgatorio, Amata (along withProcne andHaman) is one of the canto's three exemplars of thesin of wrath (anger). Dante imagines a mournful Lavinia, reproaching her mother, Amata, for the grief which her suicide has inflicted. Parallels have been drawn between Dante and his representation of Amata inPurgatorio. After his exile from Florence and theBlack Guelph takeover, Dante may have experienced that same self-recrimination experienced by Amata, which led to her suicide.[4]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Amata".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. | This article relating to an ancientRoman myth or legend is astub. You can help Wikipedia byadding missing information. |