Ascanius (/əˈskeɪniəs/;Ancient Greek: Ἀσκάνιος)[1] was a legendary king ofAlba Longa (1176-1138 BC) and the son of theTrojan heroAeneas andCreusa, daughter ofPriam. He is a significant figure inRoman mythology because of his genealogy: as the son of theRoman founding father Aeneas, himself the son ofthe goddess Venus and the Trojan princeAnchises, he was regarded as an ancestor of the Roman people. Under his additional nameIulus, he was claimed as the particular ancestor of thegens Iulia, the family ofJulius Caesar, and therefore a progenitor of the first line of Roman emperors, theJulio-Claudian dynasty. In some Roman genealogies, he is also made to be an ancestor ofRomulus andRemus. Together with his father, he is a major character inVirgil'sAeneid.
InGreek andRoman mythology, Ascanius was the son of the Trojan princeAeneas andCreusa, daughter ofPriam. After theTrojan War, as the city burned, Aeneas escaped toLatium inItaly, taking his fatherAnchises and his child Ascanius with him, though Creusa died during the escape.
According toDionysius of Halicarnassus, Ascanius' original name was Euryleon and this name was changed to Ascanius after his flight from Troy.[2] According to Virgil, Ascanius was also called Iulus or Julus. Thegens Julia, the clan to whichJulius Caesar belonged, claimed descent from Ascanius/Iulus, his father Aeneas, and, ultimately, the goddessVenus, the mother of Aeneas in myth, his father being the mortal Anchises.
Dionysius however, identified Julus as a son of Ascanius who disputed the succession of the kingdom of Alba Longa with Silvius, upon the death of Ascanius.[3]
According to another legend mentioned byLivy, Ascanius may have been the son of Aeneas andLavinia and thus born inLatium, notTroy. Ascanius later fought in the Italian Wars along with his father Aeneas.
After the death of Aeneas, Ascanius became king of Lavinium and an Etruscan king namedMezentius took advantage of the occasion to besiege the city.[4] Mezentius succeeded in making the city surrender and agree to pay a yearly tribute. Upon his retirement, Ascanius fell upon him and his army unaware and entirely defeated Mezentius and killed his son Lausus. Mezentius was forced to agree to pay a yearly tribute. Subsequent to this, exactly thirty years after the founding of Lavinium, Ascanius founded the city ofAlba Longa and became its first king. He left Lavinia in charge of the city of Lavinium. Ascanius was succeeded bySilvius, who was either his younger brother or his son. Ascanius died in the 28th year of his reign.
However, in theAeneid,Virgil claims that Mezentius fought in the Italian Wars at the timeAeneas was alive. In the Aeneid, it is Aeneas who kills Lausus after harming Mezentius, who escaped while his son faced the Trojan king. When the news about Lausus' death reaches Mezentius, he comes back to face Aeneas, and is killed too. In this account, Ascanius does not participate in these deaths.
Nevertheless, Virgil shows Ascanius' first experience at war. In theAeneid, Ascanius is a teenager without real war experiences, but while besieged by the Italians, Ascanius launches an arrow against Numanus, the husband of the youngest sister ofTurnus. After killing Numanus, Apollo comes and says to Ascanius:
Macte nova virtute, puer: sic itur ad astra,dis genite et geniture deos.
This phrase can be translated into English as: "Go forth with new value, boy: thus is the path to the stars; son of gods that will have gods as sons." or "Blessings on your fresh courage, boy, scion of gods and ancestor of gods yet to be, so it is man rises to the stars." In this verse, Virgil makes a clear reference to the offspring of Iulus, from whomAugustus Caesar claimed descent. Therefore, in this verse Virgil refers to theGens Julia, the family of Augustus andJulius Caesar, who was deified after his death.
Sic itur ad astra become proverbial, and several mottos use anad astra phrase. After this episode, Apollo orders to the Trojans to keep Ascanius away from the war.
In this same episode Ascanius, before launching the fatal arrow in Numanus, prays to Jupiter, saying:Jupiter omnipotens, audacibus annue cœptis ("Omnipotent Jupiter, please favour my bold attempt"). The last part of thehexameter became the United States mottoannuit coeptis.
The name Iulus was popularised byVirgil in theAeneid: replacing the Greek name Ascanius with Iulus linked the Julian family of Rome to earlier mythology. The emperorAugustus, who commissioned the work, was a great patron of the arts. As a member of the Julian family, he could claim to have four majorOlympian gods in his family tree: (Jupiter,Juno,Venus andMars), so he encouraged his many poets to emphasize his supposed descent from Aeneas.
| Legendary titles | ||
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| Preceded by | King of Alba Longa | Succeeded by |
