Region of central Italy, between the Tiber and the Tyrrhenian coast, which the poem presents as Aeneas's promised land, with King Latinus and the city of Laurentum. There the Trojans land in Book VII, there the war against Turnus begins, and there Alba and, later, Rome will be born. In the end the defeated Latins keep their name, and that is why the people of Italy are called Latins.
Where It Appears
- Book I: The Storm and Carthage
- Book V: The Games
- Book VI: The Descent to the Underworld
- Book VII: The Arrival in Latium
- Book VIII: The Shield
- Book XII: Turnus
Quotes
Let the old name not change for the native Latins, nor order them to become Trojans and be called Teucrians, nor let men change their speech or swap their clothes. Let Latium be, let Alban kings reign for centuries, let the Roman line be powerful through Italian valor: Troy has fallen, and may you allow it to have fallen with its name.