According to Roman mythology , Amata / ə ˈ m eɪ t ə / (also called Palanto ) was the wife of Latinus , king of the Latins , and the mother of their only child, Lavinia . In the Aeneid of Virgil , she commits suicide during the conflict between Aeneas and Turnus over which of them would marry Lavinia.
7-613: When Aeneas asks for Lavinia's hand, Amata objects, because she has already been promised to Turnus, the king of the Rutulians . Hiding her daughter in the woods, she enlists the other Latin women to instigate a war between the two. Turnus, and his ally Mezentius , leader of the Etruscans , are defeated by Aeneas with the assistance of the Pelasgian colonists from Arcadia and Italic natives of Pallantium , led by that city's founder,
14-630: 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 Pelasgians , according to modern scholars they were more probably connected with the Etruscan or Ligurian peoples. In Virgil 's Aeneid , and also according to Livy, the Rutuli are led by Turnus , a young prince to whom Latinus , king of
21-507: The Arcadian Evander of Pallene . The story of this conflict fills the greater part of the seventh book of Virgil 's Aeneid . When Amata believes that Turnus had fallen in battle, she hangs herself. In Canto 17 of Dante Alighieri 's Purgatorio , Amata (along with Procne and Haman ) is one of the canto's three exemplars of the sin of wrath ( anger ). Dante imagines a mournful Lavinia, reproaching her mother, Amata, for
28-720: The Latins , had promised the hand of his daughter Lavinia in marriage. When the Trojans arrived in Italy, Latinus decided to give his daughter to Aeneas instead because of instructions he had received from the gods to marry his daughter to a foreigner. Turnus was outraged and led his people as well as several other Italian tribes against the Trojans in war. Virgil's text ends when Aeneas defeats Turnus in single combat and therefore confirms his right to marry Lavinia. In some other accounts of
35-508: The Rutuli. Tarquin unsuccessfully sought to take Ardea by storm, and subsequently began an extensive siege of the city. The war was interrupted by the revolution that overthrew the Roman monarchy. The Roman army, camped outside Ardea, welcomed Lucius Junius Brutus as their new leader, and expelled the king's sons. It is unclear as to the eventual outcomes of the siege and the war. This article relating to an Ancient Roman myth or legend
42-647: The grief which her suicide has inflicted. Parallels have been drawn between Dante and his representation of Amata in Purgatorio . After his exile from Florence and the Black Guelph takeover, Dante may have experienced that same self-recrimination experienced by Amata, which led to her suicide. This article relating to an Ancient Roman myth or legend is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Rutuli The Rutuli or Rutulians were an ancient people in Italy. The Rutuli were located in
49-466: The story of Aeneas, Latinus is later killed in a subsequent battle with the Rutuli. During the 6th century BC, in Rome's early semi-legendary history, Rome 's seventh and final king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus went to war with the Rutuli. According to Livy , the Rutuli were, at that time, a very wealthy and powerful people. Tarquinius was desirous of obtaining the booty that would come with victory over
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