In Greek legend, the famous hero Odysseus is said to have had a son named Latinus. According to Hesiod’s Theogony, Odysseus’ son, Latinus, ruled as king over the Etruscans along with two of his brothers. However, does this mean that he was the king of ancient Italy? And can he be identified as the Latinus from Virgil’s Aeneid?
Odysseus’ son, Latinus, king of the Etruscans in Hesiod’s Theogony
The earliest mention of Odysseus having a son named Latinus who ruled as king over the Etruscans appears in Theogony. The author of this ancient work was Hesiod, a famous Greek poet of the seventh century BCE. According to Hesiod:
“Circe the daughter of Helius, Hyperion’s son, loved steadfast Odysseus and bare Agrius and Latinus who was faultless and strong: also she brought forth Telegonus by the will of golden Aphrodite. And they ruled over the famous Tyrrhenians, very far off in a recess of the holy islands.”
This passage reveals several important details about Latinus. Firstly, it reveals that he was the son of Odysseus by Circe. She was an enchantress or nymph who lived on an island near the entrance to the Underworld. Evidence suggests that the island in question was Paxos, near the oracle of the dead by the Acheron River in Epirus.
Secondly, this shows that Latinus had two full brothers, Agrius and Telegonus. Finally, Latinus, son of Odysseus, supposedly ruled, along with his two brothers, over the Tyrrhenians, or Etruscans.
The identification of Odysseus’ son with the Latinus of Virgil’s Aeneid
One big mystery surrounding Odysseus’ son Latinus is whether he was identical to the Latinus who appears in Virgil’s Aeneid. Virgil, a Roman writer, wrote this narrative in the first century BCE. It tells the story of Aeneas’ travels after the Trojan War.
According to Virgil, Aeneas met a king of the Latins in Italy, fittingly named Latinus. He was the eponymous king of the tribes over whom he ruled. His daughter, Lavinia, eventually married Aeneas, and the Trojan companions of Aeneas became united with the native Latins of Italy.
Was Latinus, son of Odysseus, identical to Latinus, king of the Latins in Virgil’s Aeneid? Many modern sources, although not all, take this stance. This seems obvious because Hesiod presents Odysseus’ son Latinus as the king of the Etruscans, who lived just next to the Latins in Italy.
Differences between the two kings
As many modern scholars acknowledge, there are serious problems with equating these two kings, called Latinus. Certainly, if they were meant to be identical, the two accounts about them are completely inconsistent with each other.
The most obvious difference is that Virgil presents King Latinus of the Latins as being the son of Faunus, a Roman god. He does not present Latinus as being Odysseus’ son, nor does he mention him ruling over the Etruscans.
There is also a serious chronological issue. As we saw, Odysseus’ son Latinus was born to him by Circe. According to Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus sojourned on Circe’s island near the beginning of his 10-year journey home from Troy. Therefore, his son Latinus must have been born only a few years after the Trojan War.
However, this is about the same time as when Aeneas is supposed to have arrived in Italy. Yet, by that point, King Latinus of the Latins was already a fairly aged king with an adult daughter.
According to chronology, ancestry, and associated nations, Virgil’s Latinus and Hesiod’s Latinus seem to be entirely distinct entities.
Was Odysseus’ son Latinus really king over the Etruscans in Italy?
Does this mean that in Italy, in the decades following the Trojan War, there were two separate kings named Latinus ruling almost in the same place and almost at the same time? In reality, there is a good case to be made that Hesiod was not presenting Odysseus’ son, Latinus, as a king in Italy.
As we saw in the quotation from Theogony, Latinus and his brothers supposedly ruled over the Etruscans “very far off in a recess of the holy islands.” This description does not match Italy.
This indicates that the Etruscans whom Latinus ruled over were not the ones who lived in Italy. Ancient Greek sources present the Etruscans as being present in several different parts of the Mediterranean, which is consistent with this conclusion.
Where did Latinus’ Etruscans really live?
Recall that Circe appears to have lived on the island of Paxos, just off the coast of Epirus, western Greece. Was there a location near that island that was said to have been inhabited by the Etruscans? As it happens, there are several ancient sources which refer to that exact region of Epirus, near the Acheron River, as being inhabited by the Pelasgians.
We have seen this in sources such as Herodotus, Strabo, and even as early as Homer in his Odyssey. Strabo, for instance, mentions:
“And many have called also the tribes of Epirus ‘Pelasgian’, because in their opinion the Pelasgi extended their rule even as far as that.”
The significance of this is that ancient sources frequently use the term ‘Pelasgian’ as a synonym for ‘Tyrrhenian’—that is, the Etruscans. It did not always mean this, of course. Sometimes, it referred to the pre-Greek inhabitants of Greece. Often, it is impossible to know which meaning is intended in any given passage.
Hesiod’s mention of Odysseus’ son, Latinus, governing the Tyrrhenians or Etruscans, may well connect with historical allusions to the Pelasgians in Epirus. This region was adjacent to the island associated with Latinus’s mythological mother, Circe.
Furthermore, Hesiod’s use of the wording “far off in a recess of the holy islands” is reminiscent of Homer’s description of Dodona in Epirus as being “far off” or “distant” in the Iliad, Book 16.
On these bases, this was likely the true territory of Hesiod’s Latinus. In other words, Latinus, son of Odysseus, king of the Etruscans, was probably supposed to have ruled in Epirus.
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