Silvius (son of Aeneas)

Silvius (also Postumius Silvius ) was the son of Aeneas and Lavinia and second king of Alba Longa in Roman mythology .

His father is either very old or already dead when he is born, so that he cannot protect the pregnant Lavinia from the stalking of Ascanius , the older brother of Silvius and King of Alba Longa. Lavinia therefore flees into the woods and gives birth to Silvius there. Its name is derived from Diodor von Silva , the Latin name for forest (mountains), as Silvius was born and grew up in one of these. After the death of Iulus, Silvius prevails in a popular election against Iulius, the son of Ascanius, and becomes the second king of Alba Longa. In another tradition, Silvius is the son of Iulus / Ascanius.

He rules for 29 years. If one uses the reigns given by Dionysius of Halicarnassus with a back calculation from the traditional year of the founding of Rome, this corresponds to the years 1141 to 1112 BC. Chr.

As his successor in ancient literature either his son Aeneas Silvius , or - in Ovid and the Origo gentis Romanae - Latinus Silvius .

All kings from Alba Longa to Silvius had "Silvius" as a nickname.

swell

Livy , Ab urbe condita 1,3.
Ovid , Metamorphoses 14,609-621. Fasti 4 Praefatio.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus , Antiquitates Romanae 1,71.

literature

Tim Junk: Silvius. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 11, Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-476-01481-9 , column 565 f.
Rudolf Peter: Silvius . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 4, Leipzig 1915, Col. 877 f. ( Digitized version ).

Individual evidence

↑ Virgil , Aeneid 6,760-766.
↑ Aulus Gellius , Noctes Atticae 2, 16, 3–10.
↑ Diodorus 7,5,8; Origo gentis Romanae 17.4.
↑ Titus Livius , Ab urbe condita 1,3,6; Ovid , Fasti, 4.41-42.
↑ Virgil, Aeneid 6,769; Livy, Ab urbe condita 1,3,7; Diodorus 7,5,8.
↑ Ovid, Fasti 4.43; Ovid, Metamorphoses 14,611; Origo gentis Romanae 18.1. Contrary to what is stated in the “New Pauly”, the author of the Origo gentis Romanae does not name a Tiberius Silvius as the successor of Silvius, but the Latinus Silvius as well as Ovid; see Markus Sehlmeyer (Ed.): Origo Gentis Romanae. The origins of the Roman people (= texts for research . Volume 82). Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2004, ISBN 3-534-16433-4 , p. 104 f.

predecessor	Office	successor
Ascanius	King of Alba Longa 1141 to 1112 BC Chr.	Aeneas Silvius

[1] Virgil , Aeneid 6,760-766.

[2] Aulus Gellius , Noctes Atticae 2, 16, 3–10.

[3] Diodorus 7,5,8; Origo gentis Romanae 17.4.

[4] Titus Livius , Ab urbe condita 1,3,6; Ovid , Fasti, 4.41-42.

[5] Virgil, Aeneid 6,769; Livy, Ab urbe condita 1,3,7; Diodorus 7,5,8.

[6] Ovid, Fasti 4.43; Ovid, Metamorphoses 14,611; Origo gentis Romanae 18.1. Contrary to what is stated in the “New Pauly”, the author of the Origo gentis Romanae does not name a Tiberius Silvius as the successor of Silvius, but the Latinus Silvius as well as Ovid; see Markus Sehlmeyer (Ed.): Origo Gentis Romanae. The origins of the Roman people (= texts for research . Volume 82). Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2004, ISBN 3-534-16433-4 , p. 104 f.