Aeoliae Insulae

    Comments

    Vergil, Aeneid 1.50-57

    Tālia flammātō sēcum dea corde volūtāns

    nimbōrum in patriam, loca fēta furentibus Austrīs,

    Aeoliam venit. Hīc vāstō rēx Aeolus antrō

    luctantēs ventōs tempestātēsque sonōrās

    imperiō premit ac vinclīs et carcere frēnat.

    Illī indignantēs magnō cum murmure montis

    circum claustra fremunt; celsā sedet Aeolus arce

    scēptra tenēns mollitque animōs et temperat īrās.

     

    Aeoliam: identified by Virgil with Lipari, the volcanic islands north of Sicily (F-B). 

    Aeolia refers to seven volcanic islands north-east of  Sicily, modern Eolie or Lipari. In the early and middle Bronze Age (end of 3rd millennium to 1st half of 13th cent. BC), large fortified settlements were built there, outposts of the Aegean trade on the metal trade route. Hiera was uninhabitable, but the source of sulphur and alum for the Liparese which they exported as far as England (as shown by finds in amphoras). (Brill’s New Pauly)

    Associated Passages

    Troy and Environs

      Troy was situated in a strategically valuable piece of land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. It was the site of the most famous war in Greek and Roman mythology, the Trojan War. It is the place from which Aeneas starts his journey. Aeneas and a group of Trojans leave the city when the Greeks, enemies of the Trojans, finally breech the walls and sack the city after years of siege warfare. Also known as Ilium and Pergamum.


      Ancient coastline and elevation data supplied by the Ancient World Mapping Center.

      Comments

      Aeneid 2.21-22

      Est in cōnspectū Tenedos, nōtissima fāmā

      īnsula, dīves opum Priamī dum rēgna manēbant,

      Aeneid 2.203-205

      Ecce autem geminī ā Tenedō tranquilla per alta

      (horrēscō referēns) immēnsīs orbibus anguēs

      incumbunt pelagō pariterque ad lītora tendunt;

      Aeneid 2.254-256

      Et iam Argīva phalānx īnstrūctīs nāvibus ībat

      ā Tenedō tacitae per amīca silentia lūnae

      lītora nōta petēns, flammās cum rēgia puppis

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      Latium

        Latium as described in Aeneid Book 1, and significant peoples around the region.

         

        Ancient coastline and elevation data supplied by the Ancient World Mapping Center.

        Comments

        Aeneid 1.1-7

        Arma virumque canō, Trōiae quī prīmus ab ōrīs

        Ītaliam fātō profugus Lāvīniaque vēnit

        lītora, multum ille et terrīs iactātus et altō

        vī superum, saevae memorem Iūnōnis ob īram,

        multa quoque et bellō passus, dum conderet urbem5

        īnferretque deōs Latiō; genus unde Latīnum

        Albānīque patrēs atque altae moenia Rōmae.

        Aeneid 1.258-259

        fāta tibī; cernēs urbem et prōmissa Lavīnī

        moenia,

        Aeneid 1.269-271

        trīgintā magnōs volvendīs mēnsibus orbīs

        imperiō explēbit, rēgnumque ab sēde Lavīnī

        trānsferet, et Longam multā vī mūniet Albam.

        Lavinium:

        Alba Longa:

        Roma:

        Latium:

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        The Journey of Dido

          This map shows Tyre, Dido's homeland, the city from which she was banished.  It also shows Carthage, the city she built for her people, and Barce, the city of King Iarbas, who gave her the land for her city. 


          Ancient coastline and elevation data supplied by the Ancient World Mapping Center.

          Comments

          Aeneid 1.338-341

          Pūnica rēgna vidēs, Tyriōs et Agēnoris urbem;

          sed fīnēs Libycī, genus intractābile bellō.

          Imperium Dīdō Tyriā regit urbe profecta,

          germānum fugiēns. 

          Aeneid 1.365-368

          Dēvēnēre locōs ubi nunc ingentia cernēs

          moenia surgentemque novae Karthāginis arcem,

          mercātīque solum, factī dē nōmine Byrsam,

          taurīnō quantum possent circumdare tergō.

          Aeneid 4.35-44

          Estō: aegram nūllī quondam flexēre marītī,

          nōn Libyae, nōn ante Tyrō; dēspectus Iärbās

          ductōrēsque aliī, quōs Āfrica terra triumphīs

          dīves alit: placitōne etiam pugnābis amōrī?

          Nec venit in mentem quōrum cōnsēderis arvīs?

          Hinc Gaetūlae urbēs, genus īnsuperābile bellō,

          et Numidae īnfrēnī cingunt et inhospita Syrtis;

          hinc dēserta sitī regiō lātēque furentēs

          Barcaeī. Quid bella Tyrō surgentia dīcam

          germānīque minās?

          Syrtis: Syrtis Minor (modern Gulf of Gabès) or Syrtis Maior (modern Gulf of Benghazi) or both (Brill)

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          Cumae and Environs

            Map of Cumae and environs. Cumae is where Aeneas goes to visit his father in the underworld in Aeneid Book 6. The entrance and exit from the underworld are both located around Lake Avernus (Avernus Lacus). Caieta is mentioned by Vergil in Aeneid 6.900-901 as a port named for Aeneas's nurse. 

            Ancient coastline and elevation data supplied by the Ancient World Mapping Center.

            Comments

            Aeneid 6.1-5

            Sīc fātur lacrimāns, classīque immittit habēnās

            et tandem Euboïcīs Cūmārum adlābitur ōrīs.

            Obvertunt pelagō prōrās; tum dente tenācī

            ancora fundābat nāvīs et lītora curvae

            praetexunt puppēs. 

            Aeneid 6.201-204

            Inde ubi vēnēre ad faucēs grave olentis Avernī,

            tollunt sē celerēs liquidumque per āëra lāpsae

            sēdibus optātīs geminā super arbore sīdunt,

            discolor unde aurī per rāmōs aura refulsit.

            Aeneid  6.232-235

            At pius Aenēās ingentī mōle sepulcrum

            impōnit suaque arma virō rēmumque tubamque

            monte sub āëriō, quī nunc Mīsēnus ab illō

            dīcitur aeternumque tenet per saecula nōmen.

            Aeneid 6.900-901

            Tum sē ad Cāiētae rēctō fert līmite portum.

            Ancora dē prōrā iacitur; stant lītore puppēs.

            Aeneid 7.1-4

            Tu quoque litoribus nostris, Aeneia nutrix,

            aeternam moriens famam, Caieta, dedisti;

            et nunc seruat honos sedem tuus, ossaque nomen

            Hesperia in magna, si qua est ea gloria, signat.


            Caieta: a town in Latium. It was situated on a promontory opposite to the city of Formiae, and forms the northern extremity of the extensive bay anciently called the Sinus Caietanus, and still known as the Golfo di Gaeta. (Smith)

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            The Journey of Antenor

              Map of the journey of Antenor as described by Venus in Vergil, Aeneid 1.242-247. Ancient coastline and elevation data supplied by the Ancient World Mapping Center.

              Comments

              Aeneid 1.242-247

              Antēnor potuit mediīs ēlāpsus Achīvīs

              Īllyricōs penetrāre sinūs atque intima tūtus

              rēgna Liburnōrum et fontem superāre Timāvī,

              unde per ōra novem vāstō cum murmure montis

              it mare prōruptum et pelagō premit arva sonantī.

              Hīc tamen ille urbem Patavī sēdēsque locāvit.

              Illyricos sinus: “Illyrian gulfs,” meaning the Adriatic gulf along the shores of Illyricum. Illyrian attacks on shipping brought Roman intervention in the First and Second Illyrian Wars (229/8, 219 BC).

              regna Liburnorum: "the realm of the Liburni." A wild and piratical race (Livy 10.2), the Liburni used privateers called lembi or naves Liburnicae with one very large lateen sail, which, adopted by the Romans in their struggle with Carthage (Eutropius 2.22) and in the Second Macedonian War (Livy 42.48), supplanted gradually the high-bulwarked galleys which had formerly been in use. (Caesar, Civil War 3.5; Horace, Epodes 1.1.) (Smith)

              fontem Timavi: the small river Timavus (modern Timavo) flows into the Adriatic near Trieste.

              urbem Patavi: meaning Padua, some twenty miles west of Venice. According to a tradition recorded by Virgil, and universally received in antiquity, it was founded by Antenor, who escaped thither after the fall of Troy; and Livy, himself a native of the city, confirms this tradition, though he does not mention the name of Patavium, but describes the whole nation of the Veneti as having migrated to this part of Italy under the guidance of Antenor. it was at an early period an opulent and flourishing city: Strabo even tells us that it could send into the field an army of 120,000 men, but this is evidently an exaggeration, and probably refers to the whole nation of the Veneti, of which it was the capital. (Strab. v. p.213.) Whatever was the origin of the Veneti, there seems no doubt they were, a people far more advanced in civilisation than the neighbouring Gauls, with whom they were on terms of almost continual hostility. (Smith)

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