Caieta
Encyclopedia
In Roman mythology
, Caieta was the wet-nurse of Aeneas
. The Roman poet Vergil
locates her grave on bay at Gaeta
, to which she also gives her name (cf. Caietae Portus
). The poet Ovid
, working a generation later, provides an epitaph:
"Here me, Caieta, snatched from Grecian flames, my pious son consumed with fitting fire." The fourth-century commentator Servius writes that there was some controversy about whose wet-nurse Caieta was: in addition to Aeneas, he offers Creusa and Ascanius
as possibilities.
Roman mythology
Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Rome's legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans...
, Caieta was the wet-nurse of Aeneas
Aeneas
Aeneas , in Greco-Roman mythology, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was the second cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas Priam's second cousin, once removed. The journey of Aeneas from Troy , which led to the founding a hamlet south of...
. The Roman poet Vergil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
locates her grave on bay at Gaeta
Gaeta
Gaeta is a city and comune in the province of Latina, in Lazio, central Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is 120 km from Rome and 80 km from Naples....
, to which she also gives her name (cf. Caietae Portus
Caietae Portus
Caietae Portus , an ancient harbour of Latium adiectum, Italy, in the territory of Formiae, from which it is south-west. The name is generally derived from Caieta, the nurse of Aeneas....
). The poet Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
, working a generation later, provides an epitaph:
-
- HIC • ME • CAIETAM • NOTAE • PIETATIS • ALVMNUS
- EREPTAM • ARGOLICO • QVO • DEBVIT • IGNE • CREMAVIT
"Here me, Caieta, snatched from Grecian flames, my pious son consumed with fitting fire." The fourth-century commentator Servius writes that there was some controversy about whose wet-nurse Caieta was: in addition to Aeneas, he offers Creusa and Ascanius
Ascanius
Ascanius is the son of the Trojan hero Aeneas and a legendary king of Alba Longa. He is a character of Roman mythology, and has a divine lineage, being the son of Aeneas, who is son of Venus and the hero Anchises, a relative of Priam; thus Ascanius has divine ascendents by both parents, being...
as possibilities.