Discovery by Artur Vrekaj. Translation Petrit Latifi

Summary

This study examines the etymology and significance of Trojan and Latin names in Vergil’s Aeneid, highlighting the poet’s engagement with Greek and Italian traditions. Saunders explores how Vergil selected names not only for narrative function but also for their historical, mythological, and linguistic resonance. By tracing connections to Homeric epics, classical myths, early Italian cults, and regional geography, the work demonstrates Vergil’s deliberate intertwining of etymology and character identity. The analysis underscores the challenges of reconstructing lost sources, such as the Cyclic poems, while emphasizing the poet’s nuanced use of names to reflect cultural heritage and epic narrative strategy.

These excerpts are extracted from the book “Trojans and Latins in Vergil’s Aeneid” Volume Ixxi, pages 551-555. Authored by Catharine Saunders.

“[…] name was then in Acarnania and the adjacent islands of the Teleboae,¹ cherished not only for its association with the old Lacedaemonian home, but also because Icarius had influential con-nections in this great northwest, where his daughter, Penelope, was wedded to the famous Odysseus. When, then, the wandering Odysseus² and the piratical, sea-going Teleboae reached Hesperian lands, Oebalus would have become a suitable name for the son of the Teleboan king of Capreae.³

Because of the lack of more definite and specific evidence the conjectures offered above concerning both Halaesus and Oebalus are, of course, vulnerable. Perhaps the lost Cyclic Poems held the true solution of these names. In any case, it is not easily credible that Vergil, who spent most of his active life near Naples, would fail to take account of the overwhelming evidence of Greek influence there.

Therefore, in seeking with special pains the names for his Campanian leaders he would find tempting any traditions by which he could push back that influence to the days of Agamemnon and Odysseus and of those other heroes out of whose wanderings after the Trojan War the ancients had already composed and made current a now shadowy chapter in the story of westward migrations.

The two groups which follow are composed of Trojan and Latin names, for the choice of which their etymological significance seems to have been responsible, either wholly or in part:

A. Trojan names (none in Homer):

1) Achates, explained by Servius (ad Aen. 1.174) as derived from ἀχάτης (agate), a stone which made the wearer gratiosior, or (ad Aen. 1.312) from ἄxos (sollicitudo), ‘always the comes of princes.’

2) Agis (x.751), from ἄγειν (to lead), since in the midst of a violent conflict “pedes et Lycius processerat Agis.” Note the juxtaposition, “processed Agis.” A possible connection with the legend of Hercules (note 9) may be found, as Herodotus (VII.204) traces the descent of Leonidas of Lacedaemon back even to Agis,

Eurysthenes, Hyllus and Heracles.

3) Arcens (1x.581-585), a Sicilian, had sent his son to the war in egregiis armis, but his splendid equipment had not been able to ward off (ἀρκεῖν) from the youth the deadly sling-shots of Mezentius. However, the true explanation may well be less simple than this; the careful indication of the region in which the son had been brought up (584-585) may have conveyed to Vergil’s readers some clue, now lost to us, as to the name of the father.

4) Chloreus (x1.768), possibly suggested by the yellow-bird (χλωρεῦς), since this former priest’s resplendent trappings included a golden bow, a golden helmet, saffron scarf and clasps of gold.

5) Corynaeus, see page 546.

6) Dioxippus (IX.574). Compounds which have ἵππος for the first or second member are in the Iliad generally names of “Trojans and their Thracian, Paeonian, Lykian and Mysian allies” (see G. H. Macurdy, Troy and Paeonia [New York, Columbia University Press, 1925], 63-68).

7) Dolichaon (x.696), father of Hebrus, is a non-combatant. In the absence of any satisfactory clue, one may suggest the meaning ‘long-lived’ (δολιχαίων).

8) Ericaetes (x.749) seems to be an Arcadian (Lycaonius). Long, flowing hair (έρι-, χαιτήεις) suits an epic hero (cf. the caesaries of Aeneas (1.590; cf. x11.302)).

9) Helenor (1x.544, 545), man-destroying (‘Ελ-ηνωρ; cf. adj. ἕλανδρος). In the Iliad names ending in -ηνωρ are characteristically Trojan or Dardanian (G. H. Macurdy, op. cit. [see above], 71-73).

10) Latagus (x.697, 698) is hit full in the face with a great stone and laid prostrate on the ground (697). In the game, κότταβος, each youth at a drinking-party threw into a basin the drops of wine re-maining in his cup, at the same time invoking his mistress. If the whole fell into the basin with a thud, it was a sign that the youth stood well with his mistress. The drops of wine thus hurled were λάταγες οι λατάγη, and λαταγέω meant “to throw the drops of wine.”

May the name of Vergil’s unfortunate Latagus suggest the thud of the great stone which the rhythm of the line itself does render, -occupat os faciemque adversam (699)? Since the game, κότταβος⁴, was of Sicilian origin and the word λάταξ was a Sicilian word, Vergil’s hero may have joined the Trojans in Sicily.

11) Leucaspis (V1.334) suggests λεύκασπις and the parma alba of young Helenor (1x.545-548), for Leucaspis had to perish at sea before reaching Italy and had no chance to win a device for his shield.

12) Menoetes, (1) the unskillful boatman of Aen. v. 161-179, may be, ironically, ‘the man of prowess’ (μένος); Menoetes, (2) the young Arcadian fisherman (XII.518), who had hated war in vain, may be ‘the man who awaits (µένειν) his fate. Cf. A. Fick you. F. Bechtel, The Greek. Personal Names (Gottingen, Vandenhoeck u. Ruprecht, 1894), 202.

13) Nealces (x.753) is the ‘man of fresh prowess’ (νεά, ἀλκή), who is here the last one in a long series of combatants. See page 546.

14) Orodes (x.732, 737), whose name naturally suggests that of the Parthian king (see note 29), may here have been more happily associated in Vergil’s mind with the adjective ὀρώδης (like a mountain). The conqueror of this Orodes places his foot on the fallen warrior and, straining at his spear, cries: Pars belli haud temnenda, viri, iacet altus Orodes. Note the juxtaposition of iacet and altus.

15) Ornytus (x1.677) is a particularly good name for this hunter, since ὄρνυμι is used of starting up wild animals from covert in the chase. Here Camilla, having caught and wounded Ornytus in the rout of battle, taunts him with the words (687): silvis te, Tyrrhene, feras agitare putasti? The name occurs also in Apollonius Rhodius as that of an ancestor of the Argonaut Iphitus (1.207) and as that of a Bebrycian (11.65).

16) Phaleris (IX.762) may be wearing his decorations (phalerae). He appears in the same line with Gyges, whose prototype was the usurper of the throne of Lydia and who has associations of Oriental splendor. Or, may Vergil have been here reminded of a second tyrant, Phalaris?

17) Promolus (1x.574) may, indicate that this warrior is in the front line (πρόμος) of battle.

18) Pyrgo (v.645), tot Priami natorum regia nutrix, may have had, for Vergil, associations with Pyrgi and the cult of Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth (Strabo v.2.8).

19) Thamyrus (XII.341) may have reference to the close-packed (θαμύς) line in which he appears (iamque neci Sthenelumque dedit Thamyrumque Pholumque). Cf. note 22.

B. Latin names (none in Homer):

1) Aconteus (x1.612-617), charging with his spear, is hurled headlong through the air from his horse, fulminis in morem aut torment ponderis acti. ‘Ακοντίζω = emitting iaculum; ἄκων, ἀκόντιον = javelin. This seems more reasonable than an association with that Aconteus who was turned to stone by the Gorgon (Ovid Met. v.201-204); cf. page 542 .

2) Alcanor (x.338), the man of prowess (ἀλκή), who brings succor (ἀλκή) to his falling brother. There is also, merely mentioned (Ix.672), a Trojan Alcanor of Ida, father of Pandarus and Bitias.

3) Alsus (x11.304) suggests ἄλσος (nemus) and is a suitable name for this pastor who fights with his axe as a weapon.

4) Calybe (VII.419) suggests καλύβη (cover, screen) since the fury, Allecto, disguises herself as Calybe, the aged priestess of Juno at Ardea.

5) Drances (XI.passim; XII.644) is taunted by Turnus as being always free with talk in the council but not prominent on any battle-field. ‘Those flying feet of thine’ suggest that Drances may come from δρᾶναι, to run.

6) Dryope (δρῦς, δρυός) is a suitable name for a nymph who has borne a son to silvicola Faunus (x.551). There is also a possible association with Dryope, mother of Pan (Homeric Hymn to Pan, verse 34).

7) Lagus (x.381) suggests λαγῶς or λαγός (hare) and is trouble-some as the name of a Latin; for Lagousa is the name of several islands in the eastern Mediterranean, of which one even today, off the west coast of the Troad, has a Turkish name meaning ‘rabbit-island’ (Pauly-Wissowa-Kroll, R.Ε., s.v. “Λαγοῦσα,” ΧΙΙ.465).

8) Lichas (x.315): see page 540.

9) Lucetius (IX.570) was classified above (page 542) under cult-names, on the authority of Servius (ad 1x.567); indeed in the Oscan language Lucetius is Jupiter, called by the light, which is said to give to men. The name is suitable for the hero whom Vergil here represents as approaching the gate carrying fire.

10) Metiscus (x11.469-472, passim) suggests μετέχω and μετέσχον with the idea of ‘sharing,’ since Iuturna takes on the appearance and the task of her brother’s charioteer.

11) Lighthouse (x.322): see page 547.

12) Telon (VII.734) suggests the accomplishment (cf. τελέω) of the wanderings of the Teleboae and their establishment (τέλος = ἀρχή) in the western world. Apollodorus (Bibl. 11.4.5) derives Τηλεβόαι from τηλοῦ ἔβη (‘he came from afar’), which is used of Taphius when he colonized Taphos and called the people Τηλεβόαι. 13) Theron (x.312) is a mighty fellow who is bold enough to attack even Aeneas. He is described as being among the turmae agrestes and his name suggests a derivation from θήρ (fera).

By way of summary it may be said that most of the Trojan and Latin names in the Aeneid appear also in the Homeric poems, in certain classical myths for which Vergil’s theme had affinities, in the early cults and the primitive history of Italy in particular, in the vast geographical background of the whole epic, and, finally, that not a few names seem to have been chosen for their effective etymological significance.

To these classes may be related 90 per cent of the 287 names covered by this study. The 10 per cent un-accounted for seems not unreasonably large when one considers all that is lost of the Cyclic poems, of Varro’s Antiquitates, of Cato’s Origines, and of the epics of Naevius and Ennius. […]”

Footnotes

1. An earlier name for Homer’s Taphians (Strabo x.2.20, 24; Apollodorus, Bibl. 11.4.5). ↩︎
2. 52. The founding of the temple of Athene on Cape Minerva, near Surrentum and just across from Capreae, was attributed to Odysseus (Strabo v.4.8; 1.2.12). ↩︎
3. 53. A similar conclusion seems to have been reached by Julius Beloch, Campanien [Breslau, Morgenstern, 18902], 433-434, though he does not give in detail the steps of his argument,” ↩︎
4. 54.Pauly-Wissowa-Kroll, R.E., s.v. “Kottabos,” x1.1530. ↩︎

Source

“Trojans and Latins in Vergil’s Aeneid” Volume Ixxi, pages 551-555. by Catharine Saunders.