Corynaeus is the name of one or more characters in

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...

'' (). The first mention of Corynaeus in the poem is as a Trojan follower of

Aeneas In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...

, who performs funerary rites for Misenus. Characters of the same name are then specified both as being killed by an archer, and later fighting in the final battle. This apparent contradiction is often explained by defining these as two separate characters.

Narrative

Combats entre Ebysus et Corynée, Messape et Aulestès, Alsus et Podalire

In book six of the ''

'', Corynaeus is mentioned as performing part of the burial ritual for the musician Misenus that will allow Aeneas to descend into the underworld. Corynaeus then performs the

lustration Lustration is the purge of government officials in Central and Eastern Europe. Various forms of lustration were employed in post-communist Europe. Etymology Lustration in general is the process of making something clear or pure, usually by m ...

ritual that follows, to purify the Trojans from contact with the dead body, by walking around them three times while sprinkling dew from an olive branch, and saying words of farewell. Christian Gottlob Heyne and

John Conington John Conington (10 August 1825 – 23 October 1869) was an English classical scholar. In 1866 he published his best-known work, the translation of the ''Aeneid'' of Virgil into the octosyllabic metre of Walter Scott. He was Corpus Professor ...

agree that Corynaeus is specified here merely for the sake of specifying a character. In book nine, Corynaeus is killed by the archer Asilas during

Turnus Turnus ( grc, Τυρρηνός, Tyrrhênós) was the legendary King of the Rutuli in Roman history, and the chief antagonist of the hero Aeneas in Virgil's ''Aeneid''. According to the ''Aeneid'', Turnus is the son of Daunus and the nymph Veni ...

' raid on the Trojan camp. This is during a battle scene, with several alternating Trojan and Latin deaths seemingly designed to indicate that the state of the battle is even at this point. In book twelve, during the final battle against Turnus at

Laurentum Laurentum was an ancient Roman city of Latium situated between Ostia and Lavinium, on the west coast of the Italian Peninsula southwest of Rome. Roman writers regarded it as the original capital of Italy, before Lavinium assumed that role afte ...

, Corynaeus is described as a bold warrior. He takes a burning firebrand from an altar, throws it into the face of the warrior Ebysus, and grabs and forces him to the ground with one knee before stabbing him in the side. J. G. Cooper suggests that Corynaeus had been offering sacrifices at the altar when the battle began, calling him a Trojan priest, which recalls his role in book six.

Characters

The apparent contradiction—Corynaeus being present at the final battle despite a character of the same name being killed earlier in the story—is part of what academic Ettore Paratore describes as an "incredible confusion" of the text.

Macrobius Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, usually referred to as Macrobius (fl. AD 400), was a Roman provincial who lived during the early fifth century, during late antiquity, the period of time corresponding to the Later Roman Empire, and when Latin was ...

pointed this out in his ''

Saturnalia Saturnalia is an ancient Roman festival and holiday in honour of the god Saturn, held on 17 December of the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities through to 23 December. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple ...

'', saying

"often becomes careless and confused" about his characters, giving Corynaeus as one example. It is worth noting that tradition states Virgil considered the ''Aeneid'' a draft that he was in the process of revising at the time of his death, and it is known to contain several similar minor contradictions. Scholars often explain the apparent contradiction by suggesting that there are two separate characters named Corynaeus. Conington says that both are most likely Trojan companions of Aeneas, and that the first mention in book six may refer to either of the other two.

Philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

Hugo Merguet and the ''Enciclopedia Virgilian'' agree that all mentions of Corynaeus refer to Trojans, though they also refer to his opponent Asilas as Trojan as well.

Frederick Ahl Frederick M. Ahl (born 1941) is a professor of classics and comparative literature at Cornell University. He is known for his work in Greek and Roman epic and drama, and the intellectual history of Greece and Rome, as well as for translations of tr ...

Henry Simmons Frieze Henry Simmons Frieze (September 15, 1817 in Boston – December 7, 1889) was an American educator and academic administrator. He was an instructor at Brown University and its University Grammar School, a professor at the University of Michiga ...

, and John Bell connect the Corynaeus of books six and twelve, calling the mention in book nine a separate character. Academics Catherine Saunders and Jacob Hammer instead group the first two mentions together, describing the character as a Trojan priest, while calling the character of book twelve a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

(Saunders) or a

Rutuli The Rutuli or Rutulians were an ancient people in Italy. The Rutuli were located in a territory whose capital was the ancient town of Ardea, located about 35 km southeast of Rome. Thought to have been descended from the Umbri and the Pelas ...

an (Hammer). Francis Gouldman defined the Corynaeus of book nine as a Rutulian, and called him a "skilful darter", following Charles Estienne's interpretation that the archer mentioned in book nine referred to Corynaeus, not Asilas.

Benjamin Hall Kennedy Benjamin Hall Kennedy (6 November 1804 – 6 April 1889) was an English scholar and schoolmaster, known for his work in the teaching of the Latin language. He was an active supporter of Newnham College and Girton College as Cambridge University ...

has both Asilas and Ebysus as Trojans, while listing Corynaeus with the soldiers of

, and only stating the Corynaeus of book six to be Trojan.

Charles Anthon Charles Anthon (November 19, 1797 – July 29, 1867) was an American classical scholar. Anthon was a professor at Columbia College and became headmaster of it's grammar and preparatory school. He produced classical works for schools, which conta ...

suggests that Ebysus' beard was in the

Etruria Etruria () was a region of Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what are now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and northern and western Umbria. Etruscan Etruria The ancient people of Etruria are identified as Etruscan civiliza ...

n fashion, making him one of Mezentius'

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *The Etruscan language, an extinct language in ancient Italy *Something derived from or related to the Etruscan civilization **Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities **Etruscan ...

warriors, and as a result says the Corynaeus of book twelve must be a Trojan. Ahl notes that many characters on both sides of the conflict have the same names, saying that this enhances the sense that it is describing a civil war.

Name

There are various spellings of the name in the surviving manuscripts of the ''Aeneid''. Christian Gottlob Heyne remarked that the correct Greek form was () from (): 'club' (often iron shod) or 'mace'. Saunders agreed with this etymology for the name of Corynaeus of book twelve, as suggested by his throwing of a club (the burning firebrand) at Ebysus. Saunders put forward an alternative etymology for the Corynaeus of books six and nine, who she described as one of several Trojan characters who may have their names derived from places: in this instance either the Corynaeum, a

peak Peak or The Peak may refer to: Basic meanings Geology * Mountain peak ** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics * Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion * Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-di ...

of Mount Mimas, or the city of Koryne below it. Early English translations of the ''Aeneid'' also vary in their spelling of Corynaeus' name.

Thomas Twyne Thomas Twyne (1543 – 1 August 1613 Lewes) was an Elizabethan translator and a physician of Lewes in Sussex, best known for completing Thomas Phaer's translation of Virgil's Aeneid into English verse after Phaer's death in 1560, and for his 1579 ...

's 1584 completion of

Thomas Phaer Thomas Phaer (also spelled Phaire, Fayre, Faer, Phayre, Phayer) (c. 151012 August 1560) was an England, English lawyer, paediatrician, and author. He is best known as the author of ''The Boke of Chyldren'', published in 1545, which was the ...

's translation of the ''Aeneid'' changed Corynaeus' name to "Sir Chorinee". Academic Steven Lally writes that it transforms it from an epic name into one which takes on "a peculiarly English sound, almost a low or clown-like familiarity".

John Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...

's 1697 loose translation calls him "Old Chorineus" in book six, and "Priest Chorinæus" in book twelve, while omitting the name of Asilas' victim in book nine.

Legacy

The Wanderings of Æneas and the Founding of Rome (1890) p110

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

's ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...

'' () describes how Athis is killed by

Perseus In Greek mythology, Perseus (Help:IPA/English, /ˈpɜːrsiəs, -sjuːs/; Greek language, Greek: Περσεύς, Romanization of Greek, translit. Perseús) is the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty. He was, alongside Cadmus ...

with a log that had been smoldering in the middle of the altar.

Alison Keith Alison Keith is a classical scholar who is Professor of Classics and Women's Studies at the University of Toronto, where she has been a Fellow of Victoria University of Toronto since 1989. She is an expert on the relationships between gender and g ...

suggests that this was modelled on Corynaeus' killing of Ebysus in the ''Aeneid''.

Oxyrhynchus Papyrus The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a group of manuscripts discovered during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by papyrology, papyrologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient Landfill, rubbish dump near Oxyrhync ...

3876 recounts that "Aeolus' cousin tends the corpse, and sets about the pyre". Trying to establish who this refers to, M. W. Haslam suggests that the body could be Misenus (who is referred to as an Aeolian by Virgil) and Aeolus' cousin could be Corynaeus, as the grandfather of

Aeolus In Greek mythology, Aeolus or Aiolos (; grc, Αἴολος , ) is a name shared by three mythical characters. These three personages are often difficult to tell apart, and even the ancient mythographers appear to have been perplexed about which A ...

from the ''Aeneid'' was Mimas, who shares a name with Mount Mimas, close to the Corynaeum

promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the so ...

that may have given Corynaeus his name. However Hugh Lloyd-Jones dismisses this suggestion, remarking that Haslam is " catching at a straw". The name Corynaeus probably served as the inspiration for Geoffrey of Monmouth's character Corineus, a descendant of the Trojans, and the

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ous founder of

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

in the ''

Historia Regum Britanniae ''Historia regum Britanniae'' (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called ''De gestis Britonum'' (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. I ...

'' (). This Corineus is mentioned in Gottfried von Strassburg's ''Tristan'' () when referring to a cave from "before Corynaeus' day" shared by the lovers

Tristan and Iseult Tristan and Iseult, also known as Tristan and Isolde and other names, is a medieval chivalric romance told in numerous variations since the 12th century. Based on a Celtic legend and possibly other sources, the tale is a tragedy about the illic ...

; John Anson suggests that von Strassburg's use of Virgil's spelling ''Corynaeus'' here is deliberately deployed with an intention to recall the ''Aeneid''s

Dido Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in modern Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (t ...

and

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

The Comedy of Errors ''The Comedy of Errors'' is one of William Shakespeare's early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. It ...

'' () contains a line describing a doctor "Whose beard they have singed off with brands of fire" (Act 5, Scene 1). Charles Knight suggested that this was based on Corynaeus' setting fire to Ebysus' beard in the ''Aeneid''.

Charlotte Porter Charlotte Endymion Porter (January 6, 1857 – January 16, 1942) was an American poet, translator, and literary critic and the cofounder and coeditor of the journal ''Poet Lore''. As the editor or coeditor of editions of the complete works of Wi ...

and

Helen A. Clarke Helen Archibald Clarke (November 13, 1860 – February 8, 1926) was an American literary critic, book editor, composer and lyricist, and the co-founder of the journal ''Poet Lore''. She was influential in shaping the American literary taste of h ...

support this theory, and say that Shakespeare may have taken it from Twyne's translation. The threefold circumambulation and spriking of dew in Corynaeus'

ritual in book six may have inspired similar lines in John Fletcher's ''

The Faithful Shepherdess ''The Faithful Shepherdess'' is a Jacobean era stage play, the work that inaugurated the playwriting career of John Fletcher. Though the initial production was a failure with its audience, the printed text that followed proved significant, in t ...

'' (1609), and

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...

's ''

Comus In Greek mythology, Comus (; grc, Κῶμος, ''Kōmos'') is the god of festivity, revels and nocturnal dalliances. He is a son and a cup-bearer of the god Dionysus. He was represented as a winged youth or a child-like satyr and represents ana ...

'' (1634).

References

External links

* – ''Aeneid'', book 6, card 228 * – ''Aeneid'', book 9, card 571 * – ''Aeneid'', book 12, card 298 {{Aeneid Trojans Characters in the Aeneid Characters in Roman mythology