In Roman mythology, Lavinia (Latin for purity) was the daughter of Latinus and Amata. Latinus, the wise king of the Latins, hosted Aeneas' army of exiled Trojans and let them reorganize their life in Latium. His daughter Lavinia had been promised to Turnus, king of the Rutuli, but Latinus was told by the oracle of Faunus that Lavinia was to marry a foreigner, Aeneas; Turnus consequently declared war on Aeneas (at the urging of Juno). The outcome was that Turnus was killed and his people captured. According to Livy Aeneas was victorious but Latinus died in the war. Ascanius, also called Iulus, the son of Aeneas, founded Alba Longa and was the first in a long series of kings and ancestor of the Patrician Julian line. Aeneas and Lavinia had one son, Julius Silvius. He named the city Lavinium after her.
Primary sources
- Livy, I.3.1
- Virgil, Aeneis VII, XII passim
- Servius, In Aeneida IV.620, VI.760
Secondary sources
- Eusebius, Chronicon (Jerome translation), edition of R. Helm (Leipzig, 1913), 66.1-7
