Aeneas - Literature, Theatre and Film

Literature, Theatre and Film

Aeneas is the subject of the French mediaeval romance Roman d'Enéas.

Aeneas is also a titular character in Henry Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas (c. 1688), and one of the principal roles in Hector Berlioz' opera Les Troyens (c. 1857).

In modern literature, Aeneas appears in David Gemmell's Troy series as a main heroic character who goes by the name Helikaon.

Aeneas is a main character in Ursula K. Le Guin's Lavinia, a re-telling of the last six books of the Aeneid told from the point of view of Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus of Latium.

Aeneas is one of the mythical founders of the Ventrue Clan in the role-playing game Vampire: The Requiem by White Wolf Game Studios.

Despite the many Hollywood elements, Aeneas has received little interest from the film industry. Portrayed by Steve Reeves, he was the main character in the 1961 sword-and-sandal peplum Guerra di Troia (The Trojan War). Reeves reprised the role the following year in the film The Avenger, about Aeneas's arrival in Latium and his conflicts with local tribes as he tries to settle his fellow Trojan refugees there.

The most recent cinematic portrayal of Aeneas was in the film Troy, in which he appears as a youth charged by Paris to protect the Trojan refugees, and to continue the ideals of the city and its people. It is at this point that Paris gives Aeneas Priam's sword, in order to give legitimacy and continuity to the Royal Line of Troy – and lay the foundations of Rome.