Turnus’s Family Tree

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Family

• Daunus(parent),Venilia(parent),Juturna(sibling)— Marriage

  Daunus, king of the Rutulians, and the sea nymph Venilia produced Turnus and his sister Juturna, binding the mortal royal house to divine blood from the waters.

Allied with

• Camilla

  Camilla led her Volscian cavalry alongside Turnus against the Trojans. The warrior-maiden's devastating charges were a crucial part of Turnus's Italian coalition until her death in battle.

• Juno

  Juno championed Turnus against Aeneas in the Aeneid, stirring up war in Latium and protecting her favored warrior until Jupiter compelled her to withdraw her support.

• Mezentius

  Mezentius, the exiled Etruscan tyrant, fought alongside Turnus against the Trojans. Together they led the Italian coalition until Aeneas killed both Mezentius and his son Lausus.

Enemy of

• Aeneas

  Turnus and Aeneas were fated enemies in the war for Latium. Turnus opposed the Trojan settlement and fought Aeneas in single combat in the climactic duel of the Aeneid.

Slain by

• Aeneas

  Aeneas killed Turnus in single combat at the climax of the Italian war. Seeing Turnus wearing the belt of slain Pallas, Aeneas struck him down in rage, ending the Aeneid.

Slew

• Pallas

  Turnus killed the young warrior Pallas in single combat and stripped his ornate sword belt as a trophy. The sight of that belt on Turnus later drove Aeneas to kill him in their final duel.

  ⚠ Pre-Virgilian tradition in Cato's Origines attributes this killing to Mezentius rather than Turnus.

Associated with

• Alecto(Greek)

  Juno summoned Alecto from the Underworld to inflame Turnus with battle-fury. The Fury hurled a smoking torch into Turnus's breast, transforming his anger into unquenchable rage for war against the Trojans.

• Amata

  Queen Amata passionately championed Turnus as husband for her daughter Lavinia, regarding him almost as a son. When Turnus fell in combat, Amata hanged herself in despair.

• Jupiter

  Jupiter held the scales of fate in the final duel between Turnus and Aeneas. When the scales tipped against Turnus, Jupiter commanded Juturna to withdraw, sealing the Rutulian king's doom.

• Juturna

  Juturna disguised herself as Turnus's charioteer to protect her brother on the battlefield. When Jupiter's messenger forced her to withdraw, Juturna plunged into her river in grief, cursing her immortality.

• Latinus

  Latinus had promised Lavinia to Turnus before the oracles demanded a foreign husband. Turnus's rage at Latinus's reversal, giving Lavinia to Aeneas instead, ignited the war in Latium.

• Lavinia

  Lavinia was promised to Turnus before oracles commanded Latinus to wed her to a foreign prince. Her loss to Aeneas became the wound that drove Turnus to war and ultimately to his death.

• Parcae

  The Parcae had measured Turnus's thread and found it wanting. Though he fought with a lion's fury against Aeneas, the Fates had already decreed that the Rutulian prince would fall at the walls of Lavinium.