Aeneas and his Trojan wife Creusa were the parents of Ascanius, who fled burning Troy led by the hand as Aeneas carried Anchises on his shoulders. Later called Iulus, Ascanius founded Alba Longa and gave the Julian gens its divine ancestry.
⚠ Livy (Ab Urbe Condita I.1-3) and some traditions make Ascanius the son of Lavinia rather than Creusa. Virgil follows the Trojan parentage.
Ascanius ruled Alba Longa as its first king after founding the city in the Alban Hills, beginning the dynasty of Silvian kings that would endure for four centuries until the birth of Romulus and Remus.
Ascanius inherited Lavinium after Aeneas's death and ruled the city his father had founded for thirty years before departing to establish Alba Longa in the Alban Hills.
Ascanius founded Alba Longa in the Alban Hills thirty years after the Trojans' arrival in Italy, fulfilling the prophecy of the white sow with thirty piglets. Alba Longa became the mother city of Rome.
During the flight from Troy, Anchises saw a divine flame appear on young Ascanius's head without burning him. He recognized the portent as Jupiter's sign that the gods willed their escape and finally consented to flee.
Apollo appeared to Ascanius after his first kill in battle, congratulating the youth for slaying Numanus Remulus with an arrow. Apollo declared this the beginning of his path to the stars but warned him to refrain from further combat.
Augustus claimed descent from Ascanius through his alternative name Iulus, making the Julian family heirs of Venus. The Temple of Venus Genetrix and Virgil's Aeneid cemented the Ascanius-Iulus genealogy as imperial propaganda.
Ascanius lived in Carthage during his father's love affair with Dido. Cupid had assumed Ascanius's form to enchant the queen, making the boy an unwitting instrument in Venus's scheme to secure the Trojans' safety.
Jupiter sent a divine flame upon young Ascanius's head during the flight from Troy, burning without harm. This portent convinced Anchises that the gods willed their escape and marked Ascanius for future greatness.
Lavinia feared her stepson Ascanius might harm her unborn child Silvius after Aeneas's death, and fled to the woods to give birth in safety. She returned only after reconciliation, and Ascanius ceded no claim against his half-brother.
⚠ Livy (Ab Urbe Condita I.3) follows the tradition of Creusa as Ascanius's mother, making Lavinia his stepmother. Some traditions, including Dionysius of Halicarnassus, make Lavinia the mother of Ascanius.
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