aeneas' journey map

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why this project?

Between 29 and 19 B.C.E., Virgil wrote The Aeneid , telling the story of Aeneas’s flight from Troy at the end of the Trojan War to found Rome. Written during the fall of the Roman Republic, the poem reinvigorated national pride by celebrating Roman virtues and the new rule of Augustus Caesar.

For the Romans, the poem was a reminder of their greatness. They understood the sacrifices Aeneas made because they knew the lands and waters through which he traveled.

This knowledge is largely lost to modern readers.

There are many maps of Aeneas’s journey available on the internet. There is even a tour of Aeneas’s route available for the modern fearless traveler. But a map itself does not give the texture of the adventure.

Aeneas’s journey takes him over a varying topography and the challenges of this topography itself affects his journey. Understanding the distances, directions, and the very texture of the lands and waters on which Aeneas walked and sailed allows the reader to experience the epic in three dimensions — and appreciate the poem as Virgil’s Roman readers would have.

This project traces Aeneas’s journey not just cartographically, but also topographically. The reader can see on the map where Aeneas is at a particular place in the narrative, and they can also explore the physicality of those places.

Welcome to Aeneas’ World!

The Underworld Adventure of Aeneas in The Aeneid

Book VI Aeneid

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M.A., Linguistics, University of Minnesota
B.A., Latin, University of Minnesota

" Virgil imbues his Hades, as well as his Elysium, with a substantiated and understandable raison d'etre , and in the process corrects the notions of his predecessor [Homer in the Odyssey ]. For Virgil, the Underworld must be categorized and organized as well as justified: thus the grouping of the souls of his Hades by reason or nature of punishment. " Interaction and Reaction in Virgil and Homer

Underworld Issues

Here are some of the unanswered questions about the mythology of the Underworld that are left at the end of the nekuia (Underworld scene) of Book XI of the Odyssey , by Homer:

Why was Elpenor upset that he hadn't been buried?
Why was it said that Tiresias, of all mortals, was permitted to keep a clear head about mortal matters?
Why were the shades of the eternally tortured, Sisyphus , Tityos, and Tantalus, near each other?

The view of the Underworld presented in the nekuia is alien from modern views of death. It's hard to understand what went on when one adheres strictly to Judaeo-Christian visions of Hell.

On this page and the next are some insights into the Homeric Underworld, based on references to Vergil. The Aeneid , by Vergil (or Virgil), was written many centuries after Homer's Odyssey. Despite a few centuries, Vergil is chronologically closer to Homer than we are. Vergil is a good model also because he deliberately patterned his work on Homer and elaborated on it, and he lived in a milieu where Homer's writing was still very much a part of the common culture since Homer was at the heart of the routine education of children. Therefore, Vergil tells us something about the Greco-Roman (pagan) Underworld that we should know to understand Homer's nekuia.

" The striking similarities and close contrasts between the Underworlds of the two poets make it painfully obvious that Virgil was strongly affected by the ideas instilled in Homer's text. How exactly he reacted to this "burden," however, and how he attempted to justify his own work and separate it from that of Homer: these are the difficult yet ever-important questions. In re-creating Homer's Hades, and in the process facing up to his predecessor, Virgil exhibits clearly his desire to re-work Homer, to complete and perfect the vision of the earlier poet. " Interaction and Reaction in Virgil and Homer

Reasons for Going to the Underworld

Homer Odysseus goes to the Underworld for help getting home. Vergil Aeneas goes to pay a duty call on his dead father Anchises.

Underworld Guidance

Homer The help Odysseus seeks comes from the prophet, Tiresias, in the Underworld and the sorceress, Circe, among the living. Vergil Among the living, Aeneas seeks the guidance of the Sibyl at Cumae, a priestess of Apollo who speaks inspired prophetic utterances. Among the dead, he seeks the counsel of his father.

Homer Circe calms his fears and instructs Odysseus on how to travel. Vergil The Sibyl tells Aeneas how to proceed but warns him that while the trip to Hades is easy, the return voyage is limited to the select favorites of Jupiter. Aeneas must be divinely chosen if he is to return. This isn't all that terrifying a caveat, however, since he will know in advance whether he will be able to make the trip. In order to start the journey, the Sibyl says he must find a golden bough sacred to Proserpine. Should the gods not want him to proceed, he will fail to find it, but he does find it. In the guise of two doves, Venus, Aeneas' mother, guides him.

Unburied Dead

Like Odysseus, Aeneas has a dead companion to bury, but unlike his predecessor, Aeneas must bury him before proceeding to the Underworld because the death has contaminated Aeneas' fleet ( totamque incestat funere classem ). Aeneas does not initially know which of his companions has died. When he finds Misenus dead, he performs the necessary ceremonies.

Misenus lay extended on the shore; Son of the God of Winds: none so renown'd The warrior trumpet in the field to sound; With breathing brass to kindle fierce alarms, And rouse to dare their fate in honorable arms. He serv'd great Hector, and was ever near, Not with his trumpet only, but his spear. But by Pelides' arms when Hector fell, He chose Æneas; and he chose as well. Swoln with applause, and aiming still at more, He now provokes the sea gods from the shore; With envy Triton heard the martial sound, And the bold champion, for his challenge, drown'd; Then cast his mangled carcass on the strand: The gazing crowd around the body stand. 162-175

Slightly different from Odysseus, Aeneas has 2 men for whom he must provide funeral rites, but he doesn't find the second until the Sibyl has taken him to the shores of the River Styx, past the companions of Death: Famine, Pestilence, Old Age, Poverty, Fear, Sleep, and Disease ( Curae, Morbi, Senectus, Metus, Fames, Egestas, Letum, Labos, and Sopor ). There, on the shore, Aeneas finds his recently deceased helmsman, Palinurus, who cannot cross over until he is given a proper funeral rites . Proper burial is impossible since he was lost at sea.

5 Rivers of the Greek Underworld
Table of Roman Equivalents of Greek Gods
Dante's Inferno: A Guide to the 9 Circles of Hell
What Were the Elysian Fields in Greek Mythology?
The Odyssey Book IX - Nekuia, in Which Odysseus Speaks to Ghosts
Quotes from 'The Aeneid' by Virgil
4 Major Greek Underworld Myths
List of Characters in 'The Iliad'
The Murderous Cult of Roman Diana and Her Sword-Wielding Priests
Scenes in Art Based on the Odyssey
Polyphemus the Cyclops
Virgil or Vergil
The Ancient Greek Underworld and Hades
Memorize a Chunk of Vergil (or Virgil)
'The Odyssey' Characters: Descriptions and Significance
'The Odyssey' Overview

Journey of Aeneas

In the Aeneid by Virgil , the fleeing Trojan hero Aeneas visited many places in the Mediterranean Sea . Here is a brief chronological account of the travels of Aeneas. See the following map. Generally Aeneas travels westward, avoiding Greece, and detouring in Carthage, before finally making his way to Rome, which was then called Latium . [1]

Troy (ancient city) . Aeneas flees the burning city with the household gods called the Penates , his son Ascanius , his father Anchises . His wife Creusa follows behind but gets lost in the mayhem. Aeneas and other Trojans meet up and build ships.
Thrace . Aeneas originally intended to build a city there but blood oozed out of the ground. This was the burial ground of Polydorus , who was the son of King Priam . They kept going.
Delos was an island in the Aegean Sea . The god Apollo tells Aeneas to find the place of his ancestors .
Crete was an larger island in the Mediterranean Sea , visiting Knossos , but while sleeping, Aeneas had a vision that the Penates were telling him to travel to Italy .
They traveled west, skirting the coast of Greece , and stopping at the Strophades Islands in the Ionian Sea , which was west of the Peloponnese . Harpies attacked them, were beaten off, but one of them confirmed that Italy was indeed their final destination.
Actium in western Greece . They held the Trojan Games .
Buthrotum on the mainland of Greece on the western side, opposite Corfu . Aeneas meets Andromache who was the wife of fallen Trojan hero Hector . Andromache was married to a son of King Priam named Helenus and they lived now in Greece, and they had built a little kingdom to resemble Troy which Aeneas called Little Troy . Helenus prophesied that Aeneas would know that he was at his final and proper destination when a white sow had thirty young. Andromache gave gives of mantles to Aeneas' son Ascanius because the little boy reminded her of her dead son Astyanax .
Ceraunia off of the coast of Albania was the closest point to Italy , on the eastern side of the Adriatic Sea . They sailed westward to Italy.
Italy on the southeasternmost point was where they saw the temple of the goddess Minerva and saw a sign of four white horses, suggesting that there would have to be war in Italy. They made a sacrifice to Juno , trying to appease the goddess and wife of Jupiter , and continued their voyage southward and westward to Tarentum . They drifted to Sicily .
Sicily on the eastern coast, they stayed at the harbor of the Cyclops . They saw Mount Etna . They met Achaemenides who was a Greek abandoned by Ulysses when the Greek crew had visited perhaps a few months ahead of Aeneas. Achaemenides related the story of the blinding of the Cyclops, and welcomed the stranger as one of them; it showed how the Trojans were inclusive and welcoming to strangers, and it was a way for Virgil to contrast the attitudes of the Greeks (who abandoned stragglers) to the Trojans (who took pity on the abandoned man). The short route at this point would have taken them by Scylla and Charybdis but it was treacherous for ships , so they sailed along the longer route, around the bottom of Sicily. Aeneas' father Anchises died and was buried in Sicily. They departed. Juno asked Aeolus , the God of Winds, to start a storm . Aeneas and his men were caught out at sea in the storm. Neptune , God of the Sea, stilled the storm and Aeneas, exhausted, made for the nearest coast, which was Africa .
Carthage . Aeneas and his crew are waylaid here on the northern coast of Africa . Aeneas meets the beautiful and intelligent Queen Dido from Tyre which is modern day Lebanon , whose husband Sychaeus was murdered by Dido's brother. Dido is building a city and planning its laws , but Aeneas and Dido, by the will of Juno and Venus , fall in love. They had sexual intercourse in a cave during a rainstorm , and Dido considered her relationship with Aeneas to be a marriage . But later, Jupiter directs Mercury to remind Aeneas of his duty to found the city of Rome , and Aeneas makes preparations to leave, without first informing Dido. She is furious, saddened, and later commits suicide on a funeral pyre . Aeneas departs.
Sicily is revisited. A year had passed in Carthage. Aeneas decides to hold the Lusus Troiae or Trojan Games in honor of his dead father Anchises . Juno struck fear into the hearts of the women , who set fire to the ships in an attempt to prevent further sea voyages; Ascanius tries to stop them, but fails, but gods prevent most of the ships from burning. Aeneas is discouraged, but the prophet Nautes tells him to keep going; at this point, Aeneas lets each Trojan determine for himself or herself whether to keep going; many Trojans, including almost all of the women, decide to stay on Sicily .
Cumae on the west coast of Italy is where they landed. Aeneas met the Cumaean Sibyl , a goddess who acted as his guide and brought him to the Underworld which was overseen by the brother of Jupiter , or Hades .
In the Underworld , Aeneas enters by means of the Golden Bough , and crosses the River Styx on the boat of Charon . Aeneas sees Dido who refuses to speak to him or even look at him; he sees fallen heroes from the Trojan War ; he sees Sisyphus ; he meets the spirits of future leaders of Rome ; and others including Silvius , Romulus , Numa , Augustus Caesar , and others. Virgil uses a philosophy of reincarnation to justify how he could permit a character from the past have the power of seeing people from the future .

In Latium , which is north and west along the western coast of Italy , Aeneas travels up the river Tiber and becomes engaged in a war with his rival Turnus . Turnus hoped to marry princess Lavinia , the daughter of King Latinus and Queen Amata , but the king thought that his daughter should marry a stranger, as foretold in a prophecy. Venus enlisted the help of her husband Vulcan to make armor for Aeneas including a famous shield which showed future scenes of Roman glory which Aeneas could not understand, but enjoyed nevertheless. Different adventures take place in this section of the book which is often compared to the Iliad by Homer ; the earlier sections of the sea-faring Aenean ventures were often compared to the Odyssey by Homer. At one point Turnus kills the best friend of Aeneas, the allied warrior Pallas , which causes grieving by the parent of Pallas. The warrior maiden Camilla fought against the Trojans, and fought brilliantly in her aristeia , or episode of particularly excellent battling, but she was killed by the Trojan Arruns . A truce between the two sides eventually holds, and an agreement that Aeneas and Turnus should fight in a one-on-one combat. At one point in the battle, Turnus agrees that Aeneas can have the hand of Lavinia in marriage, but Aeneas sees Turnus wearing the sword-belt of his former fallen friend Pallas , and Aeneas is once more consumed with anger , and Aeneas kills Turnus. This ends the story.
↑ The Journey of Aeneas , curriculum online , 2010-04-03. Retrieved on 2010-04-03. “Using a map show the locations of: Troy, Mount Ida, Thrace, Delos, Crete, Strophades, Actium, Corfu, Sicily, Carthage, Tyre, and Rome.”
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Aeneid Maps

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.

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

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

Aeneid 1.1-7

Arma virumque canō, Trōiae quī prīmus ab ōrīs

Ītaliam fātō profugus Lāvīnia que 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

Albānī que patrēs atque altae moenia Rōmae .

Aeneid 1.258-259

fāta tibī; cernēs urbem et prōmissa Lavīnī

Aeneid 1.269-271

trīgintā magnōs volvendīs mēnsibus orbīs

imperiō explēbit, rēgnumque ab sēde Lavīnī

trānsferet, et Longam multā vī mūniet Albam .

Alba Longa:

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.

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)

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.

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)

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.

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)

The Voyage of Aeneas of Troy: Did it Really Happen?

Read Later

The Trojan War is the cardinal point in both British and European history. According to the British chronicles their ancient kings and princes are descended from Brutus the Trojan , the great grandson of Aeneas of Troy. Aeneas was a Trojan prince who survived the Trojan War and led his people in exile to found a “New Troy”.

Aeneas’s voyage lasted seven years. In mythology it is said that he founded Lavinium and became the progenitor of the Romans, through his son Ascanius and the Alban kings. The Trojan War was real, but what about Aeneas’s voyage?

Incredibly, a detailed historical and geographical record of the voyage was left to posterity and has survived to this day. Scholars in the Classics know it as Virgil’s Aeneid , but it is regarded as a work of fiction. This belief is mistaken. Every facet of Aeneas’s voyage is minutely documented and the journey can be retraced in its entirety, provided that the keys to unlocking the Aeneid’s hidden knowledge are known and the geography is correct. Unbelievably, the Aeneid reveals Aeneas’s voyage to have taken place in the Western Oceans.

History Versus Legend: In Search of Aeneas, the Trojan Refugee
Was There Ever a Trojan War?

Aeneas and his family fleeing the burning city of Troy, with the Trojan horse in the background, by Juan de la Corte. ( Public domain )

Aeneas and the Fall of Troy

The war with the Achaean confederacy was in its tenth year when the Trojans were informed that the invading forces had sailed away. The Trojans immediately went down onto the plain to see the deserted Achaean camp for themselves. Unknown to the Trojans, however, the confederate fleet had anchored off Tenedos, unseen. By the light of the moon it sailed afterwards for Troy and disgorged its malign forces on the very threshold of the city. Earlier that day a gigantic wooden horse constructed by the Greeks before they left had been brought inside the walls of Troy. Trojans everywhere had been celebrating the end of hostilities and now the whole populace succumbed to drunken sleep.

In the darkness armed soldiers let themselves out of the belly of the Trojan horse , cut down the watchmen and opened the gates of the city to the Achaean forces. There was catastrophic loss of life, destruction on a massive scale, and the Greeks became lords of the burning city. King Priam and most of his family were killed whilst large numbers were later taken away as slaves. As Troy sinks in flames, Aeneas —a prince of Troy and cousin to Hector—gives up the fight and leads his father and son to safety, but his wife perishes in the city. At daylight Aeneas finds that people from all quarters have flocked to him in assembly ready to be conducted in exile to a new land and a new life. They spend almost a year constructing a new fleet and at the beginning of summer spread their sails to fortune.

Aeneas’ Flight from Troy by Federico Barocci. ( Public domain )

The Voyage of Aeneas of Troy and His Visit to Thrace

Virgil tells us that the first place to be visited by Aeneas was Thrace. In The Discovery of Troy and its Lost History Bronze Age Thrace was identified as the Lincoln Wolds in eastern England. Because of different sea levels the topography of this area had been transformed. There was an inland sea to the south of Thrace. This was the Hellespont, across which Aeneas sailed in exile from Troy. From Thrace Aeneas’s voyage took him to “Apollo’s Town”. It is an island that is normally considered to have been Delos. But it is not called Delos in the Aeneid . So, where was Apollo’s Town? Any voyage from this area would have to be undertaken in the North Sea and/or the English Channel but, as yet, we do not know the direction that Aeneas took when he left Thrace.

In order to solve this problem, the information contained in Virgil’s Aeneid must be put to use in the correct geographical setting. That setting was not the modern Mediterranean or the Aegean, but Bronze Age Britain . We shall see that it is only from this particular coastline that a sailor can comply with the directions given. This is because he would have to leave the shore at a time dictated by the tides and when the wind strength and direction were within tightly controlled parameters. Failure to do this would result in the ships being driven back to shore, dragged in the wrong direction, or becoming lost in the North Sea.

Sailing oceans that are subject to tides requires great skill and experience and, undoubtedly, Aeneas would have employed mariners with extensive knowledge of the seas in which his voyage was conducted. Some of this knowledge is available today on charts showing “Tidal Stream Speed and Direction” for the British Isles and the North Sea. These are referenced (ultimately) to the tides at Dover, England, and provide the speed and direction of the tides at regular intervals.

Because tidal stream speeds and directions are continually changing, a mariner would want to know in advance the effect these changes would have during the voyage. He can then plan the route, the stages of the voyage, the best time to set sail, and so on. To make matters even more complicated he would also want to take into account the condition of the seas, the wind, and general weather predictions. For the journey from Thrace, Virgil provides only a few fragments of information:

“Thereupon, so soon as ocean may be trusted, and the winds leave the seas in quiet, and the soft whispering south wind calls seaward, my comrades launch their ships and crowd the shores. We put out from harbor, and lands and towns sink away.”

Virgil’s information, although sparse, is very important. It tells us that there are no problems as far as the condition of the seas are concerned. The fleet can either take advantage of the speed and direction of the tides or, alternatively, if the speeds and directions are against them they are unlikely to cause too many problems during the journey. The seas are calm because of the lack of wind so the journey from Thrace will have to be undertaken using the oars. Surprisingly, we are also told that although the winds have left the seas in quiet, a soft whispering south wind beckons them to sea! We will find that this rather strange reference has a relevant meaning in the real world and applies specifically to the voyage from Thrace in Bronze Age Britain.

The fleet leaves Thrace at about two hours after high water at Dover . The direction of the tide on the east coast of Thrace has only just changed from north to south into the Hellespont. The speed of the tide is quite low, probably less than two kilometers per hour. The fleet takes about 2.5 hours to travel across the mouth of the Hellespont (now “The Wash”) in an easterly direction. Whilst the tide has a tendency to push the ships south there is a gentle southerly wind blowing on the Hellespont that pushes them north, keeping them on course.

The fleet reaches the coast of Norfolk just after the tides along the north coast have changed from west to east. For the next six hours the tides help the fleet on its way, possibly increasing the distance travelled by as much as 10 kilometers. As the ships head out into the North Sea the tides around Norfolk start flowing north again. Crossing the North Sea, the fleet will experience changes in tidal direction, generally from north to south and back again. There will be changes in the speed of the tides as well but most changes cancel each other out. Now that the limited information provided by Virgil has been employed in its correct geographical setting it shows that Aeneas sailed from Thrace in Britain across the North Sea to the Netherlands.

The Netherlands is part of the great plain of north and west Europe. It is low and flat except for the extreme southeast around the Limburg area. More than one quarter of its land is below sea level whereas half is less than one meter above. The high points in the west are coastal dunes. There are some hills in the center and the east, most of which are ice-age moraines. To the north of the Netherlands is the Wadden Sea, the most dynamic natural landscape of Western Europe. It extends eastwards along the north coast of Germany and north along the west coast of Jutland. The Wadden Sea is a tidal-flat area separated from the open North Sea by a chain of barrier islands, dunes, mud flats, tidal gullies and sandbanks. Due to the prevailing winds and the tides there is a constant shifting of channels and sands and the whole landscape is forever changing. The Netherlands has a long history of flooding, often with catastrophic loss of life. Much of the land that we see today has been reclaimed from the sea.

The author argues that by reading Virgil he has concluded that Aeneas sailed from Thrace in Britain across the North Sea to the Netherlands. (Author provided)

Identifying Apollo’s Town from Virgil’s Account

When Aeneas arrived in the Netherlands in the Bronze Age it was not the modern landscape that he was confronted with. We know that the sea level in Eastern England was five to seven meters higher so it is unlikely that it was very much different here. Taking only half the East England increase, however, it can be seen that most of the Netherlands was sea at this time. We are left with the higher ground in the south and east and one island of a considerable size. So, where did Aeneas bring his fleet to shore? The answer is provided by Virgil in Book 3 of the Aeneid :

The True Origins of the Legend of Brutus of Troy and the London Stone
The Phoenician city of Tyre - A rich history of industry, mythology and conflict

“There lies in mid sea a holy land, most dear to the mother of the Nereids and Neptune of Aegae, which strayed about coast and strand till the grateful Archer god chained it fast from high Myconos and Gyaros, and made it lie immovable and defy the winds. Hither I steer; and it welcomes my weary crew to the quiet shelter of a safe haven. We disembark and worship Apollo’s town.”

A map of the location of Apeldoorn which the author believes to be Apollo’s town as identified in Virgil’s text. (Author provided)

There is only one portion of land in mid sea. This is known as the Veluwe, a ridge of hills in the Province of Gelderland. It is about 60 kilometers from north to south and rises to 110 meters above sea level. As an ice-age moraine it would quite genuinely have moved to this position where it became fixed, so the myth of the origins of this island has its roots in reality. On the east coast of the Veluwe stands the modern city of Apeldoorn. It is interesting that the oldest known reference to this city dates back to the year 792 when it was called “Appoldro”. This name is not just an intriguing coincidence. In the ancient British language tro means to turn or to wander. The modern Welsh phrase mynd a tro means “to go for a walk”. In Appoldro tro mutates to dro so the meaning of the name is “Wandering Apollo”.

This article is an extract from the recently published book, The Voyage of Aeneas of Troy by Bernard Jones and has been republished with permission. Visit the author’s website, Trojan History , to find out more.

Top image: Representational image of Aeneas of Troy. Source: Deivison / Adobe Stock

By Bernard Jones

Jones, B. 2019. The Discovery of Troy and its Lost History . Trojan History Press.

Jones, B. 2023. The Voyage of Aeneas of Troy . Trojan History Press.

Virgil. (Trans. Fagles, R. & Knox, B.) 2008. The Aeneid . Penguin Classics.

Why one should not be content with Virgil’s version of Aeneid, i.e. spending time with Dido queen of Carthage, sailing to Sicily and paying a visit to Underword before settling in Italy?

It is pretty obvious that Virgil is mimicking Homer’s Odyssey, and it is more than obvious why so: to please Augustus and to provide a heroic background to Romans.

If Odyssey may be one time fictional, Aeneid is ten times so, thus to look for any alternate route (and arbitrarily rejecting ancient -and nowdays- Thrace for Norfolk’s “Thrace” and magically “teletransporting” Aeneid’s fleet there), it is completely futile.

If true, it also proves the pen mightier than the sword, for the Greeks are the ones who wrote the story down.

There are some interesting similarities such as Aeneas and the Celtic name, Aoghnais. The Trojan horse would also make perfect sense in a Celtic setting, given the high status of Epona, the Pagan horse goddess. Simply receiving a gift horse doesn't really explain why one would be stupid enough to fall for such a ruse, but adding religion into the story would make it far more believable through an offering to a common deity. Indeed, to have refused the gift may have caused a slight to the deity.

The Celts certainly fought each other often enough and with chariots. They had access to tin which, from the reviews of the book I've read, was central to this theory.

Oddly enough, the most compelling review on this that I read was an entirely uncomplimentary article. Or perhaps not that oddly at all, for I find reading criticisms often much more enlightening than praise. This particular review had little to offer other than an anti-racist slant, over-blown and reactionary.

All in all, I look forward to reading the real thing sometime.

Bernard Jones is a retired multi-disciplinary professional, Chartered Practitioner and Chartered Fellow, with a lifetime of scientific, technical, investigative and research work behind him. He is also a historian of some 35 plus years who completed his post graduate research... Read More

The Aeneas Route, the journey between archeology and nature becomes a cultural itinerary certified by the Council of Europe

The mythical journey of the Trojan hero narrated by Virgil has been declared as the 45th cultural itinerary recognised at European level. Thefirst one, the Camino de Santiago was recognised in 1987. Aeneas Route crosses 5 Mediterranean countries (Turkey, Greece, Albania, Tunisia and Italy) on a route that in Italy involves 6 Regions: Puglia, Sicily, Calabria, Campania and Lazio.

Rome, May 21 – Aeneas Route, the mythical journey of the Trojan hero narrated by Virgil starting from the city of Troy up to the Lazio coasts, through 5 countries, has officially entered among the itineraries certified by the Council of Europe . In this way, the certified cultural routes of the Council of Europe reaches the total amount of 45 itineraries (the first was the Camino de Santiago in 1987) which invite European citizens to discover a heritage consisting of archaeological, religious, artistic testimonies and sites of naturalistic value. The certification of the Council of Europe is issued to networks that promote shared European culture, history and memory. These routes must also embody and disseminate some fundamental values promoted by the Council of Europe such as democracy, human rights, intercultural exchanges. Aeneas Route which crosses the Mediterranean landscapes, was promoted in 2018 by Aeneas Route Association, in collaboration with the Municipality of Edremit (Turkey), with the Lavinium foundation (Italy) and with numerous organisations and institutions at an international level.

“ The unanimous decision to recognise to the Aeneas Route the certification of the Council of Europe – declared Giovanni Cafiero, president of the Aeneas Route Association – rewards over three years of work by our Association that has managed to create an enlarged network of members and supporters, thanks to the commitment of the volunteers who shared with us their great competence and passion. The Route of Aeneas today unites the shores of Turkey, Greece, Tunisia, Albania and Italy with their territories that symbolise the richness of European identity. It can promote a revival of tourism and economic and cultural exchanges as an opportunity for knowledge, encounter, consolidation of European and universal values, enhancing the richness of diversity “.

Aeneas Route is the first tourist-archaeological-maritime itinerary that starting from Turkey arrives in Europe according to the map of the route described in the Aeneid of Virgil. It has a precise geographical connotation and a rich storytelling linked all the stopoversof the journey up to the arrival in Rome. It involves Turkey, Greece, Albania, Tunisia and Italy with a path composed of 21 main stopovers.

Aeneas Route, 21 stopovers in 5 countries

The itinerary starts from Troy to get to Rome crossing 5 Mediterranean countries: Turkey, Greece, Albania, Tunisia and Italy. The route is composed of 21 main stopovers comprehending 6 Unesco Sites (Troia, Delos, Butrint, Mount Etna, Carthage, Cilento Park and Vallo di Diano), 3 National Parks (Mount Ida in Turkey, Butrint National Park in Albania and the Cilento National Park and Vallo di Diano in Italy on the Tyrrhenian coast), ending in the metropolitan area of Rome, a city that symbolises the Mediterranean community and the European Union since the 1956 Treaties of Rome. In Italy Aeneas Route crosses 5 regions : Apulia, Sicily, Calabria, Campania and Lazio. The main sites that compose the tourist-archaeological-cultural itinerary of Aeneas Route are: Troy, Antandros and the National Park of Mount Ida, Ainos-Enez (Turkey), Delos, Crete and Lefkada (Greece), Butrint (Albania), Castro (Puglia), Crotone-Hera Lacinia (Calabria), Trapani-Erice-Segesta (Sicily), Carthage (Tunisia), Palinuro and Cuma-Pozzuoli, (Campania), Gaeta and Lavinium (Lazio) and the city of Rome, where Aeneas meets Evander, the king of the village on the Palatine. Aeneas Route involves the central-eastern Mediterranean basin, all the regions of the continental South and Sicily, displaying itself as a project for the revival of the culture and economy of the sea and in particular as an overall strategy for the enhancement of the archaeological/ landscape heritage and the quality productions of the entire coast of Italy and southern Italy.

Digital Maps of the Ancient World

The Aeneid, Book VI

Overview Book I Book II Book III Book IV Book V Book VI Book VII Book VIII Book IX Book X Book XI Book XII

The Underworld

They finally arrived in Italy at Cumae. Aeneas headed straight for the temple of Apollo which Daedalus was said to have built, dedicating there the wings which had carried him through the air. On the temple doors was depicted the story of Minos, Pasiphae, the Minotaur , the labyrinth Daedalus had built, Theseus and Ariadne and the death of Icarus. They sacrificed seven bullocks and seven sheep and entered the cave of the Sibyl where Aeneas prayed that the gods pity the Trojans after all their sufferings, give them what was owed them by fate and allow them to settle in Latium.

Aeneas would then build Apollo a temple of solid gold and establish his oracle and priests dedicated to his service. The oracle through the Sibyl made the following prediction: that, although the Trojans had put behind them the dangers of the sea, worse dangers remained on land. They would have their kingdom in Lavinium but terrible wars would precede. Aeneas would have to fight a second Achilles , a foreign marriage would once again be the cause and Juno’s anger would not yet abate.

Aeneas asked the Sibyl to escort him to the Underworld so that he could see and talk to his dead father. The Sibyl told Aeneas the descent into the Underworld was easy; it was returning that was the difficulty; only those favoured by the gods had achieved it. Before going down he must first seek out and pick a golden bough as an offering to Proserpina. Only those called by fate can pick it. He must then find and bury the body of one of their men as he was polluting the fleet. Aeneas and Achates found the body of Misenus, a Trojan warrior who had fought alongside Hector and Aeneas ; also a great trumpeter he had challenged the gods to play as well as he and was drowned by Triton .

Misenus was buried in a tomb on the top of Mount Misenus, named after him. As Aeneas had been cutting wood for Misenus’ pyre he saw two doves, his mother’s birds, who led him to the golden bough, which Aeneas plucked and took to the Sybil. Sacrifices were made to Hecate, Proserpina and Pluto, the gods of the Underworld. Aeneas then followed the Sibyl down into the Underworld. The entrance was dark and inhabited by personifications of terrors which afflict mortals: grief, revenge, old age, diseases, fear, hunger, poverty and death, war and discord; idle dreams beneath the leaves of a huge elm tree; terrifying monsters: Scylla , Briareus, the Hydra of Lerna , the Chimaera , Gorgons and Harpies and Geryon , all of them only ghosts who could not harm him the Sibyl warned Aeneas as he was preparing to attack them with his sword.

Next they approached the rivers of the Underworld guarded by Charon to whom the souls of the dead flocked, begging him to row them across the River Styx . The Sibyl explained that those he took across were the buried but the unburied were fated to wander there for one hundred years. Among the unburied Aeneas saw Trojan sailors who had fallen overboard during storms including his navigator, Palinurus. He told Aeneas he had reached the shore of Italy but had immediately been murdered. He begged Aeneas to free him from his present purgatory. The Sibyl told Palinurus that those living close to where he died would bury him and that place would be named after him.

Charon challenged Aeneas as he approached because he carried a sword and was obviously not dead. The Sybil told Charon that Aeneas was going to see his father and showed him the golden bough and Charon rowed them both across. Cerberus , the three-headed guard dog of the Underworld, was drugged asleep by the Sibyl. They passed an area noisy with the tears of children who had died in infancy, of those who had been falsely accused, of those who had committed suicide and Minos was their judge. Next they passed the Fields of Mourning inhabited by those who had died unhappy in love: Phaedra, Procis, Eriphyle, Evadne, Pasiphae, Laodamia, Caenus and, to Aeneas’ great surprise and distress, Dido.

He told her he had heard she had taken her own life. Was it because of him? He said it was not his fault he had left her and put the blame on fate and the gods. Dido refused to look at or speak to Aeneas but returned to her former husband, Sychaeus. Next they reached the area set aside for brave warriors who had died in battle. Aeneas met many Trojans who had died in the war including the mutilated Deiphobus whom Aeneas scarcely recognised. Deiphobus explained that he had been killed and mutilated by Menelaus and Odysseus after Helen, whom he had married after the death of Paris , had let them into their house.

They then passed Tartarus, surrounded by the burning river Phlegothon, from which terrible groans could be heard. Here lived those who had committed crimes when alive. They were judged by Rhadamanthus and punished in terrible ways by Tisiphone and the Furies . As they approached Elysium and The Fields of the Blessed Aeneas laid the golden bough at the gates for Proserpina. In contrast to the previous darkness and gloom everything here was bright and happy. Men were exercising, dancing, singing in honour of Apollo and feasting, all armour discarded. Aeneas asked for directions to his father and found him in a valley reviewing the souls of his descendants waiting to be born.

Anchises ran towards Aeneas saying he knew he would overcome all dangers to get to him but they were unable to embrace as Anchises was a ghost. Aeneas saw countless numbers of men flitting like bees in a summer meadow waiting to drink the waters of the river Lethe and be reborn. Anchises explained how souls are reincarnated after one thousand years. He then pointed out future Romans who would bring great glory: Silvius, born to Aeneas’ future wife, Lavinia, after his death, and other Alban kings; Romulus , the founder of Rome and it’s dynasty, the Julian descendants of Iulus (Ascanius) culminating in Augustus Caesar who would bring back the Golden Age and extend Rome’s empire. After naming other great Romans Anchises set out Rome’s mission: government of the world, the bringer of peace, fair treatment of the defeated and unrelenting war against any opposition. Anchises ends his account with a panegyric of Marcellus, Augustus’ son in law and heir, who had recently died in Virgil’s time, and whom all Rome mourned.

Before Aeneas left the Underworld with the Sibyl through the Gate of Ivory Anchises told him about the wars he must still fight to secure his kingdom.

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