Related Topics  Notes on Characters from The Aeneid  This
section contains 2,659 words (approx. 9 pages at 300 words per
page) Get the premium The Aeneid Book Notes  The Aeneid Major
Characters  Aeneas: The hero and protagonist of this epic,
Aeneas is the son of Venus and Anchises. He is pictured in the
Iliad where he is rescued repeatedly by the gods. His depiction
in this tale is a little more noble. He is empowered by the gods
with the task of leading the Trojan refugees from their
destroyed city to Italy where they will make the beginning of an
empire. His status as a hero is different than the status of the
Greek heroes. He is a social hero. He is responsible not only
for winning his own glory but also the glory of his father and
son, representing the past and the future. His failure with Dido
and his slaying of Turnus reiterates that he may be the son of a
god, but he is human. He does all the great things of the
Homeric heroes: he wages war; gets lost at sea; and travels to
the underworld. His endeavor