Æneas (ē-nē'ăs), a Trojan warrior and hero of the Æneid, the great epic poem of Vergil; the son of Anchises and the goddess Venus he married Creusa, the daughter of King Priam. After the sack of Troy he left the city, carrying his father on his shoulders and leading his son Ascanius. Building a fleet, he set sail with a few chosen companions, but was shipwrecked on the coast of Africa, near Carthage. He was received kindly by Queen Dido, whom he would have married had he not been warned by the gods to seek Italy. On setting out thither, his ship, as it left port, was lighted by the funeral pyre of Dido, who had killed herself in grief at his departure. After celebrating the national games on the coast of Sicily in honor of Anchises, who had died there, and paying a visit to the lower world, where the future was unfolded to him, Æneas reached the Tiber. He was received by King Latinus, whose daughter he married. He fell in battle with the Etruscans, and after his death received the honors of a god. His son Ascanius or Iulus founded Alba Longa, one of whose kings, Numitor, was the grandfather of Romulus, who founded Rome. Hence the Romans claimed to derive their origin from Æneas.