Aegusae: See Aegates Islands.
Aemilii: A patrician gens (= clan) of ancient Rome. They claimed to be descended from the great Greek mystic philosopher Pythagoras, through his son Mamercus. Several of Rome’s most illustrious families made up the various branches of the Aemilii gens: the Pauli, the Lepidi, and the Scauri. The Roman consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus was one of generals who suffered the humiliating defeat at Cannae at the hands of Hannibal in 216 BC. His son and namesake later obtained the consulship for himself on his own merits, while his daughter, Aemilia, married Publius Cornelius Scipio, the great general who finally defeated Hannibal and forced Carthage to surrender. In 194 BC, the younger Aemilius was appointed to be one of the three Roman commissioners overseeing the creation of colony at Croton. Because of his family’s belief in their descent from Pythagoras, who was closely connected with Croton, this task must have had some special significance for Aemilius. Later in his career, he would achieve fame for his defeat of King Perseus of Macedonia and the annexation of that kingdom into the Roman State.
Aemilius Paulus, Lucius: (d. 216 BC): Roman consul (219 and 216 BC). Co-commander of the Roman forces at the battle of Cannae, he was among those who fell in that disastrous defeat to the Carthaginians.
Aenaria (Inarime, Pithecusa) (NA): Ancient name for the island of Ischia. Sources attribute the name to the Roman Emperor Augustus who was apparently related the island with the epic of Aeneas.
Aeneas: A mythological hero of the Trojan War, claimed by the Romans as the founder of their race. He was the son of Anchises, King of Dardania, and the goddess Aphrodite (=Venus). According to Roman mythology, as set down in the 1st century BC by Vergil in the Aeneid, Aeneas led the surviving Trojans from the ruins of their city on a seven-year journey in search of a new homeland. Part of his epic story takes place in Sicily and Campania. In the 3rd book of the story, Aeneas’s father, Anchises, died at Drepanum in W Sicily. In the 5th book, during Aeneas’s second visit to Sicily, he is welcomed by Acestes (see which) near Mt. Eryx. In the 6th book, Aeneas meets the Sibyl at Cumae in Campania, who leads him through a cave at Lake Avernus to visit his father in the Underworld.
Aeneid: The epic poem of ancient Rome, created by the poet Virgil. It was the National Epic of the ancient Romans, telling the tale of the Trojan hero Aeneas, who led his followers of a 7-year journey to Italy. There, after several adventures, they settled in Latium and became the ancestors of the Romans. In the third book of the Aeneid, Virgil includes an itinerary of the Sicilian coast from Messina to Syracuse, from Syracuse to Selinunte (Selinus), and then on to Trapani. Nearly the entire fifth book of the epic, describing the funeral games of Anchises, take place in W Sicily, in and around Trapani and Eryx.
Aeolia: In classical mythology, the floating island home of Aeolus, ruler of the winds. Traditionally, Aeolia is identified with one of the Lipari Islands, thus providing that chain with its classical name, Aeoliae Insulae. It was said to have been surrounded by a great bronze wall.
Aeoliae Insulae (Vulcaniae, Hephaestiades, Lipareae, Planctai (?))(ME)>: Classical name for the volcanic Lipari Islands off the NE coast of Sicily. The name derives from that of Aeolus, the mythical god of the winds, who was said to reside there (supposedly on either Strongyle or Lipara). Because one of the islands (Hiera) was supposed to have been the site of the workshop of the fire-god Hephaestus (Vulcan), the chain was also sometimes called the Hephaestiades or Vulcaniae. Occasionally they were also called the Liparenses, after Lipara the largest of the islands. The islands of the chain are actually peaks of a volcanic mountain range connecting Vesuvius in Campania with Etna on Sicily. These isles were Lipara (mod. Lipari), Hiera (Vulcano), Strongyle (Stromboli), Phoenicusa (Felicudi/Filicudi), Ericusa (Alicudi), Euonymus (Panaria), Didyme (Salina), Hicesia (Lisca Bianca), Basilidia (Basilizzo), and Osteodes (Ustica).