Symbols

The Penates The Penates are the household gods of Troy, the sacred images of the house and of the city that Aeneas snatches from the fire and carries across the sea to Italy. In Roman religion, the Penates guard the continuity of a family and, on a larger scale, of a... The Trojan Horse The Trojan Horse is the war machine with which the Greeks bring down Troy after ten years of siege: a fir horse the size of a mountain, which the Greek chiefs pretend to offer as a votive gift for their return, with chosen warriors shut inside its belly,... Dido's Pyre Dido's Pyre is the bonfire that the queen of Carthage has built in the palace courtyard after Aeneas decides to leave, and on which she dies. Dido presents it to her sister Anna as the rite of a priestess to bring him back or to free her from love, and has... The Golden Bough The Golden Bough is the golden branch that glows among the leaves of a dark holm oak and that the Sibyl of Cumae (Sibyl) demands of Aeneas as a passport to descend to the world of the dead and see his father, Anchises. It is consecrated to Proserpina, who... Aeneas's Shield Aeneas's Shield is the central piece of the armor that Vulcan forges at Venus's request for her son, in Book VIII, when the war in Latium draws near. It is an enormous shield, of seven circles upon circles, designed as a defense against all the Latin darts,... Pallas's Belt Pallas's Belt is the baldric, the strap that holds the sword, that Pallas wears on his shoulder when he dies in Book X. It is of gold worked by the craftsman Clonus and bears engraved the massacre of the husbands by the daughters of Danaus, in a single...