The brutal killing of Priam, king of Troy, is both at the beginning of the story of the Aeneid and an end to the story of the Trojan war contained in the Iliad. In war, some of the most damaging things that can be accomplished are the demoralizing of the other soldiers and the desecration of their gods. The Trojans held their gods in great esteem and are portrayed as a very reverent people. This can be seen by Aeneas refusal to touch the statues of his household gods until he can clean himself of the battle from which he has just come.

Father, carry our hearth gods, our Penatës.

It would be wrong for me to handle them-

Just come from such hard fighting, bloody work-

Until I wash myself in running water.#

There seems, also, to be a great trust in their gods because of...