The Aeneid, Book 3 summary
Book 3 of 12 · 32 min to read the book
In Book 3, Aeneas recounts how the Trojans abandon settlements in Thracia and Crete, learn that Italy is their destination, and survive dangerous encounters across the sea. Helenus gives them religious and navigational advice, they rescue an abandoned Greek from the Cyclopes, and Anchises dies at Drepanum before Aeneas reaches the listening queen’s home.
What happens
- In Thracia, bleeding plants reveal Polydorus’s murder, so the Trojans bury him and abandon their new settlement.
- Apollo directs them toward their ancestral homeland, but Anchises mistakenly identifies Crete, where disease ruins their settlement.
- The household gods identify Italy as their destination, and the fleet leaves Crete before storms carry it to the Harpies.
- Celaeno threatens famine; at Buthrotum, Andromache welcomes the travelers and Helenus explains their route, dangers, and religious duties.
- After briefly landing in Italy, the Trojans reach Sicily, rescue Achaemenides, and escape Polyphemus and the other Cyclopes.
- Anchises dies at Drepanum, and Aeneas ends his account of the journey.
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Why do the Trojans abandon their settlement in Thracia?
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