Anchises
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In Greek mythology, Anchises was a son of Capys and Themiste (daughter of Ilus, son of Tros) or Hieromneme, a naiad. Anchises' major claim to fame in Greek mythology is that he was a mortal lover of the goddess Aphrodite. One version is that Aphrodite pretended to be a Phrygian princess and seduced him for nearly two weeks of lovemaking. Anchises was the father of Aeneas by Aphrodite. He found out about the goddess only nine months later when she revealed herself and presented him with the infant Aeneas. He was a prince from Dardania, a territory neighbouring Troy.
Anchises had a mortal wife named Eriopis, according to the scholiasts, and he is credited with other children beside Aeneas. Homer, in the Iliad, mentions a daughter named Hippodameia, their eldest ("the darling of her father and mother"), who married her cousin Alcathous.
Anchises bred his mares with the divine stallions owned by King Laomedon. However he made the mistake of bragging about his liaison with Aphrodite and as a result Zeus, the king of the gods, hit him with a thunderbolt which left him lame.
After the Trojan War, Anchises was carried from the burning city of Troy on his son's shoulders (Aeneas), since he was an old man. Anchises died and was buried in Sicily many years later. Aeneas later visited Hades and saw his father again in the Elysian Fields.
Homer's Iliad mentions another Anchises, a wealthy native of Sicyon in Greece and father of Echepolus.
[edit] References
- Homer. Iliad II, 819-21; V, 260-73; XX, 215-40
- Virgil. Aeneid
- Apollodorus. Bibliotheke III, xii, 2
- Apollodorus. Epitome V, 21
- Ovid. Metamorphoses XIII, 623-42; XIV, 82-119.
- Rose, H.J. (1924). Anchises and Aphrodite. The Classical Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 1. (Jan., 1924), pp. 11-16.
