Aeneas and Anchises - Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedfordshire, UK
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Dragontree
N 52° 00.445 W 000° 24.706
30U E 677639 N 5765026
This statue of Aeneas and Anchises stands in Wrest Park.
Waymark Code: WM9CBN
Location: Eastern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 07/31/2010
Views: 2
Located in a group of four statues in the south parterre this iconic statue is a Grade II Listed feature. It was listed on 10th January 1985.
The statue dates to approximately 1730 and is a lead design painted white and stands on a Portland Stone, ashlar plinth dating to the 19th century.
Aeneas carries Anchises across his shoulder whilst his son Ascanius follows and a fallen female provides no obstacle as he strides over her.
Wikipedia describes the myth:
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'In Greek mythology, Anchises (Ancient Greek: ????s??) was the son of Capys and Themiste (daughter of Ilus, son of Tros) or Hieromneme, a naiad. His major claim to fame in Greek mythology is that he was a mortal lover of the goddess Aphrodite (and in Roman mythology, the lover of Venus). One version is that Aphrodite pretended to be a Phrygian princess and seduced him for nearly two weeks of lovemaking. Anchises learned that his lover was a goddess only nine months later, when she revealed herself and presented him with the infant Aeneas. The principle early narrative of Aphrodite's seduction of Anchises and the birth of Aeneas is the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite.
Anchises was a prince from Dardania, a territory neighbouring Troy. He had a mortal wife named Eriopis, according to the scholiasts, and he is credited with other children beside Aeneas. Homer, in the Iliad, mentions a daughter named Hippodameia, their eldest ("the darling of her father and mother"), who married her cousin Alcathous.
Anchises bred his mares with the divine stallions owned by King Laomedon. However, he made the mistake of bragging about his liaison with Aphrodite, and as a result Zeus, the king of the gods, hit him with a thunderbolt which left him lame.
After the defeat of Troy in the Trojan War, the elderly Anchises was carried from the burning city by his son Aeneas, accompanied by Aeneas' wife Creusa, who died in the escape attempt, and small son Ascanius (the subject is depicted in several paintings, including a famous version by Federico Barocci in the Galleria Borghese in Rome). Anchises himself died and was buried in Sicily many years later. Aeneas later visited Hades and saw his father again in the Elysian Fields. Homer's Iliad mentions another Anchises, a wealthy native of Sicyon in Greece and father of Echepolus.'