Source Verification: Latinus
Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.
What the Sources Attest
Who was Latinus in Greek mythology?
In Greek sources Latinus is a son of Odysseus, not a Roman native. Hesiod's Theogony says Circe bore Odysseus two sons, Agrius and Latinus, who ruled over the Tyrsenians in a recess of the holy islands. Apollodorus names Calypso as his mother. The Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus reports that he was really a son of Heracles, raised as the son of Faunus. In Roman tradition he is the king of the Aborigines in Latium who received Aeneas.
Source: Hesiod, Theogony 1011-1014
Was Latinus the son of Odysseus or of Telemachus?
Different sources say each. Hesiod's Theogony makes Latinus the son of Odysseus and Circe, and brother of Agrius. Apollodorus also names Odysseus, but with Calypso as the mother. Hyginus puts him a generation later: after Telegonus killed Odysseus, Telemachus married Circe, and their son was Latinus. Roman writers usually give neither. Virgil's Aeneid makes Latinus a son of Faunus and the nymph Marica, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus reports that his real father was Heracles.
Source: Hyginus, Fabulae 127
Who did Latinus marry?
His wife was Amata in Virgil's Aeneid. She favoured Turnus as Lavinia's husband, and the Fury Allecto drove her to rage against the Trojan match. When she believed Turnus dead, she hanged herself, and Latinus tore his robes and poured dust on his white hair. Dionysius of Halicarnassus also names Amata as Latinus's wife. A different Greek account, from Callias and reported by Dionysius, says a Trojan woman named Rome married Latinus and bore him three sons.
Source: Virgil, Aeneid 12.593-611
Who is King Latinus' daughter?
Lavinia, his only child after his son died young, according to Virgil's Aeneid. Omens marked her: bees swarmed on her father's laurel, and her hair seemed to catch fire at the altar. The oracle of Faunus told Latinus to marry her to a foreigner. Livy says Aeneas named his town Lavinium after her. After Aeneas died, Livy adds, Lavinia ruled as regent for her son, and her force of character kept the Latin state intact.
Source: Virgil, Aeneid 7.45-106
Did Aeneas marry Lavinia?
Yes, in Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and by promise in Virgil. Livy says Latinus gave Aeneas his daughter after their treaty, and Aeneas named Lavinium after his wife. Dionysius says Latinus gave Lavinia to Aeneas once the Trojan town was built. Virgil's Aeneid ends before any wedding. In Book 12 Aeneas says only that the Trojans will build him a city and Lavinia will give it her name, and Latinus swears to the treaty.
Source: Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.1
How did King Latinus die?
Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus say he fell in battle against the Rutulians. In Livy, Turnus went to war because Lavinia had been promised to him. The Rutulians lost, but the Aborigines and Trojans lost their leader Latinus. Dionysius names the rebel leader Tyrrhenus, a nephew of Queen Amata, and says Latinus and Tyrrhenus both died in a sharp battle. Virgil's Aeneid does not kill him. He mourns Amata's suicide and is still watching the final duel as the poem ends.
Source: Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.2
Where Accounts Differ
- who was Latinus's father
- whether the Theogony lines are Hesiod's
- whether Latinus fought Aeneas before the treaty
- how Latinus died
- whether Latinus descends from Saturn or the Sun
- who Latinus married
- Latinus's father differs by source. Hesiod (Theogony 1011-1014) names Odysseus and Circe. Apollodorus (Epitome 7.24) names Odysseus and Calypso. Hyginus (Fabulae 127) names Telemachus and Circe. Virgil (Aeneid 7.47-49) names Faunus and the nymph Marica. Dionysius (Roman Antiquities 1.43 and 1.44) reports that his real father was Heracles and that Faunus only married his mother.
- The Theogony lines on Circe's sons are doubted. J. G. Frazer's note to Apollodorus Epitome 7.24, printed with the Perseus translation, judges them probably not Hesiod's but a later addition meant to give the Latins a Greek ancestry. They are cited here as part of the transmitted Theogony.
- Whether Latinus fought Aeneas first differs. Livy (1.1) records both traditions: defeat in battle followed by peace, or a parley and treaty before any fighting. Dionysius (1.57-59) has Latinus march against the Trojans and then make a treaty after matching dreams. In Virgil (Aeneid 7.249-285) Latinus offers friendship to the envoys at once, and war comes only through Juno, Amata and Turnus.
- Latinus's death differs. Livy (1.2) says he fell in the war with Turnus and the Rutulians. Dionysius (1.64) places his death in a later battle against Rutulians led by Tyrrhenus, a nephew of Amata. Virgil's Aeneid never tells his death; he mourns Amata (12.609-611) and is still watching the final duel (12.707).
- Virgil gives two ancestries at once. At Aeneid 7.47-49 Latinus descends from Saturn through Picus and Faunus. At 12.164 his crown of rays is a sign of the Sun, his grandfather. The Sun is Circe's father in the Theogony, but Virgil does not explain the link, and none is drawn here.
- Whom Latinus married differs. Virgil (Aeneid 7.343, 12.593-611) and Dionysius (1.64) name Amata. Dionysius (1.72) reports Callias's account that a Trojan woman named Rome married Latinus.
- Hesiod, Apollodorus, Virgil's Aeneid and Livy are cited from the Perseus translations and checked by the site's citation validator. Aeneid line numbers were checked by hand against the Latin text on Perseus and The Latin Library. Hyginus is checked against the Mary Grant translation on ToposText, and Dionysius's chapters against Earnest Cary's Loeb translation on LacusCurtius. Neither is in the live citation registry.
Sources
- Hesiod, Theogony 1011-1014
- Apollodorus, Epitome 7.24
- Hyginus, Fabulae 127
- Virgil, Aeneid 7.45-49
- Virgil, Aeneid 7.50-106
- Virgil, Aeneid 7.170-191
- Virgil, Aeneid 7.249-285
- Virgil, Aeneid 7.343-373
- Virgil, Aeneid 7.585-622
- Virgil, Aeneid 11.469-472
- Virgil, Aeneid 12.18-31
- Virgil, Aeneid 12.161-211
- Virgil, Aeneid 12.216-286
- Virgil, Aeneid 12.593-611
- Virgil, Aeneid 12.707
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.1
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.2
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.3
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 1.43
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 1.44
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 1.57
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 1.58
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 1.59
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 1.60
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 1.64
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 1.72