Lavinia
In Roman mythology, Lavinia (/ləˈvɪniə/ lə-VIN-ee-ə; la) is the daughter of Latinus and Amata, and the last wife of Aeneas.
Creation
[edit | edit source]It has been proposed that the character was in part intended to represent Servilia Isaurica, Emperor Augustus's first fiancée.[1]
Story
[edit | edit source]Lavinia, the only child of the king and "ripe for marriage", had been courted by many men who hoped to become the king of Latium.[2] Turnus, ruler of the Rutuli, was the most likely of the suitors, having the favor of Queen Amata.[3] In Virgil's account, King Latinus is warned by his father Faunus in a dream oracle that his daughter is not to marry a Latin:
Lavinia has what is perhaps her most, or only, memorable moment in Book 7 of the Aeneid, lines 94–104: during a sacrifice at the altars of the gods, Lavinia's hair catches fire, an omen promising glorious days to come for Lavinia and war for all Latins: Template:Poem quote Not long after the dream oracle and the prophetic moment, Aeneas sends emissaries bearing several gifts for King Latinus. King Latinus recognizes Aeneas as the destined one: Template:Poem quote Aeneas is said to have named the ancient city of Lavinium for her.[4]
By some accounts, Aeneas and Lavinia had a son, Silvius, a legendary king of Alba Longa.[5] According to Livy, Ascanius was the son of Aeneas and Lavinia; she led the Latins as a power behind the throne since Ascanius was too young to rule.[6] In Livy's account, Silvius is the son of Ascanius.[7]
In other works
[edit | edit source]In Ursula K. Le Guin's 2008 novel Lavinia, Lavinia's character and her relationship with Aeneas is expanded, giving insight into the life of a king's daughter in ancient Italy. Le Guin employs a self-conscious narrative device in having Lavinia as the first-person narrator knowing that she would not have a life without Virgil, who, being the writer of the Aeneid several centuries after her time, is thus her creator.[8]
Lavinia also appears with her father, King Latinus, in Dante's Divine Comedy, Inferno, Canto IV, lines 125–126. She is documented in De Mulieribus Claris, a collection of biographies of historical and mythological women by the Florentine author Giovanni Boccaccio, composed in 1361–62.[9]
Notes
[edit | edit source]- ↑ Proceedings of the Virgil Society. 10. Indiana University. 1970. p. 42.
- ↑ Virgil, Aeneid 7.70–74, trans. Robert Fitzgerald.
- ↑ Virgil, Aeneid 7.75, trans. Robert Fitzgerald.
- ↑ Appian, Kings 1. Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.11ff, Dionysius of Halicarnassus Roman Antiquities, 1. 59.1ff
- ↑ Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 1.70, Virgil, Aeneid 6.1024–1027.
- ↑ Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, 1.1.11–1.3.1 ("His son Ascanius was not old enough to assume the government but his throne remained secure throughout his minority. During that interval—such was Lavinia's force of character—though a woman was regent, the Latin State, and the kingdom of his father and grandfather, were preserved unimpaired for her son." Trans. Canon Roberts).
- ↑ Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.3.7.
- ↑ Higgins, Charlotte (22 May 2009). "Review: Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
- ↑ Boccaccio, Giovanni (2003). Famous Women. I Tatti Renaissance Library. 1. Translated by Virginia Brown. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. xi. ISBN 0-674-01130-9.
References
[edit | edit source]- Virgil. Aeneid. VII.
- Livy, Ab urbe condita Book 1.