Creusa (wife of Aeneas)

This article is about wife of Aeneas in Greek and Roman mythology. For other mythological figures named Creusa, see Creusa.

In Greek and Roman mythology, Creusa (Ancient Greek: Κρέουσα, romanized: Kreousa) is the wife of Aeneas, and the mother of Ascanius. According to Apollodorus, she is the daughter of Priam and Hecuba. A number of sources describe her presence during the sack of Troy, with her often fleeing the city alongside her husband. In Virgil's Aeneid, Creusa is lost in the confusion while their family is trying to escape, leading Aeneas to turn back to look for her; there he is met with her shade, which foretells of his future journey to Hesperia, where he is told he will marry a different woman.

Detail of Aeneas' Flight from Troy, by Federico Barocci (1598), showing Creusa following behind her husband during the destruction of Troy

Genealogy

Homer does not mention Aeneas having a wife,^[1] while according to Pausanias, the poet Lesches and the author of the Cypria had her as one Eurydice.^[2] It is only in the 1st century BC, in the works of Virgil, Livy, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus that Creusa is first given as Aeneas's wife; in these accounts she is the mother of Ascanius by Aeneas, and Dionysius also specifies Priam as her father.^[3] The mythographer Apollodorus refers to Creusa as the daughter of Priam and Hecuba, but does not mention her being Aeneas's wife,^[4] and Hyginus also includes Creusa in his catalogue of Priam's children.^[5] In addition to Ascanius, other sources list a second son of Creusa and Aeneas: a scholion on the Aeneid names this child Eurybates, while in another scholion, on Lycophron's Alexandra, they are called Euryleon.^[6]

Virgil

Creusa's death at the will of the gods is dealt with briefly by Virgil in his Aeneid. As Troy is falling to the Greeks, Aeneas goes to his home to lead his father Anchises, Creusa, and their son Ascanius out of the city and into the countryside. Anchises refuses to leave the house, prompting Aeneas to decide that he will stay in Troy so that he may die honourably in battle, rather than abandon his father. Creusa grabs his feet and begs him to think of what would become of Ascanius, Anchises and herself if Aeneas were to be killed. As she does this, Ascanius catches fire with an un-earthly flame. The flame is quickly doused with water. Anchises believes this to be an omen from Jupiter, who confirms this omen by sending a shooting star. Anchises now agrees to flee Troy. The family leaves the home, Aeneas carrying his father and Ascanius holding his hand, while Creusa is to follow some distance behind them. As they flee through the city, they reach the gates and begin to run, after noticing that the Greeks appear to be gaining on them. Creusa disappears, unable to keep up with them. After reaching Ceres' temple outside of the city, Aeneas leaves Anchises and Ascanius there to go back in search of Creusa. As he searches the city in desperation, he meets the shade, or ghost, of Creusa, who tells him that it was her fate to remain in Troy. She predicts his journey to Hesperia, Italy and future marriage to another. She asks that Aeneas take care of their child and vanishes. Aeneas tries three times to hold her, each time failing to grasp her shade.^[7]

Greek sources

In Lycophron's account, the Greeks were willing to let Aeneas take something with him from his house, and he chose his father and the household gods, opting to leave behind his wife, children, and property;^[8] while Lycophron does not name his wife, a scholion on the passage identifies her as Creusa.^[9] Pausanias relates that Rhea and Aphrodite rescued Creusa from being enslaved by the Greeks on account of her being the wife of Aeneas (who was a son of Aphrodite).^[10]

Genealogical chart

v t e Trojan race

Oceanus Tethys Atlas Pleione Scamander Idaea Simoeis Zeus/Jupiter Electra Teucer Dardanus Batea Ilus Erichthonius Astyoche Callirrhoe Tros Ilus Ganymede Assaracus Hieromneme Laomedon Themiste Capys Priam Anchises Aphrodite/Venus Latinus Creusa of Troy Aeneas Lavinia Ascanius Silvius Aeneas Silvius Latinus Silvius Alba Atys Capys Capetus Tiberinus Silvius Agrippa Romulus Silvius Aventinus Procas Numitor Amulius Ares/Mars Rhea Silvia/Ilia Hersilia Romulus Remus

Notes

1. Gantz, p. 610.
2. Gantz, p. 610; Pausanias, 10.26.1.
3. Virgil, Aeneid 2.541; Livy, 1.3.2; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 3.31.4 (pp. 136, 137).
4. Gantz, p. 610; Apollodorus, 3.12.5.
5. Hyginus, Fabulae 90 (Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 127).
6. Berger-Doer, p. 128.
7. Virgil, Aeneid, 2.650 ff.
8. Gantz, p. 652; Hard, p. 480; Lycophron, Alexandra 1263–9 (pp. 424, 425).
9. Gantz, p. 653; Horsfall, p. 516 on line 738.
10. Pausanias, 10.26.1.

References

• Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd., 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Berger-Doer, "Kreousa III", in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) V.1., Zürich and Munich, Artemis Verlag, 1990. ISBN 3-7608-8751-1. Internet Archive.
• Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, Volume II: Books 3-4, translated by Earnest Cary, Loeb Classical Library No. 347, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1939. ISBN 978-0-674-99382-2. Online version at Harvard University Press. Online version by Bill Thayer.
• Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1), ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).
• Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-415-18636-0. Google Books.
• Horsfall, Nicholas, Virgil, Aeneid 2: A Commentary, Brill, 2008. ISBN 978-90-04-16988-3.
• Lycophron, Alexandra in Callimachus, Lycophron, Aratus, Hymns and Epigrams. Lycophron: Alexandra. Aratus: Phaenomena, translated by A. W. Mair and G. R. Mair, Loeb Classical Library No. 129, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1921. ISBN 978-0-674-99143-9. Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
• Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Smith, Scott R., and Stephen M. Trzaskoma, Apollodorus' Library and Hyginus' Fabulae: Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology, Hackett Publishing, Indianapolis/Cambridge, 2007. ISBN 978-0-87220-821-6. Google Books.
• Virgil, Aeneid: Books 1-6 in Eclogues. Georgics. Aeneid: Books 1-6, translated by H. Rushton Fairclough, revised by G. P. Goold, Loeb Classical Library No. 63, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1916. ISBN 978-0-674-99583-3. Online version at Harvard University Press.