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{{Short description|Figure in Greco-Roman mythology}}
{{About||the 4th-century warrior|Latinus (Alemanni)|the news portal|Latinus (news portal)}}
[[File:Latinus.svg|thumb|Latinus from [[Guillaume Rouillé]]'s ''[[Promptuarium Iconum Insigniorum|Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum]]'']]
'''Latinus''' ({{langx|la|Latinus}}; [[Ancient Greek]]: '''Λατῖνος''', ''Latînos'', or '''Λατεῖνος''', ''Lateînos'') was a figure both in [[Greek mythology|Greek]] and [[Roman mythology]].  He is often associated with the heroes of the [[Trojan War]], namely [[Odysseus]] and [[Aeneas]].  Although his appearance in the ''[[Aeneid]]'' is irreconcilable with his appearance in [[Greek mythology]], the two pictures are so different that he cannot be seen as one character.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}

== Greek mythology ==
In [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'',<ref>Lines 1011–1016.</ref> Latinus was the son of [[Odysseus]] and [[Circe]] who ruled the [[Tyrrhenians]] with his brothers Agrius and [[Telegonus (son of Odysseus)|Telegonus]]. According to the Byzantine author [[John the Lydian]], [[Hesiod]], in the ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'', considered Latinus to be the brother of [[Graecus]], who is described as the son of [[Zeus]] by [[Pandora (daughter of Deucalion)|Pandora]], the daughter of [[Deucalion]] and [[Pyrrha]].<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.43.xml fr. 2 Most, pp. 42&ndash;5] [= fr. 5 Merkelbach-West, pp. 5&ndash;6 = [[John the Lydian]], ''De Mensibus'' 1.13].</ref> In his ''Fabularum Liber'' (or ''Fabulae''), [[Gaius Julius Hyginus]] recorded the myth that Latinus was a son of [[Circe]] and [[Telemachus]] (a son of [[Odysseus]]) That relation possibly dated to the lost epic [[Telegony]] of [[Eugammon of Cyrene]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title= Telegonus|encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite|year= 2014|publisher= Encyclopædia Britannica|location= Chicago}}</ref>  He was also depicted as the son of [[Odysseus]] and [[Calypso (mythology)|Calypso]].<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022:text=Epitome:book=E:chapter=7:section=24 E.7.24].</ref>

== Roman mythology ==
[[File:Bol-aeneas.jpg|thumb|''Aeneas at the Court of Latinus'' by [[Ferdinand Bol]]; [[Rijksmuseum]] Amsterdam]]
In later [[Roman mythology]] (notably [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]''), Latinus, or Lavinius, was a king of the [[Latins (Italic tribe)|Latins]]. He is sometimes described as the son of [[Faunus]] and [[Marica (mythology)|Marica]], and father of [[Lavinia]] with his wife, [[Amata]]. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, however, claims he was a son of [[Heracles]] who only passed for a son of Faunus.<ref>[[Roman Antiquities]], 1.44.1</ref> He hosted Aeneas's army of exiled [[Trojan War|Trojans]] and offered them the chance to reorganize their life in [[Old Latium]]. His wife Amata wished his daughter Lavinia to be betrothed to [[Turnus]], king of the [[Rutuli]], but Latinus and the gods insisted that he give her instead to [[Aeneas]];<ref name="HardRose2004">{{cite book|author1=Robin Hard|author2=H. J. Rose|title=The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA590|year=2004|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-18636-0|pages=590–}}</ref> consequently, Turnus declared war on Aeneas and was killed two weeks into the conflict. [[Ascanius]], the son of Aeneas, later founded [[Alba Longa]] and was the first in a long series of kings leading to [[Romulus]] and [[Remus]], the founders of [[Rome]].

== English mythology ==

The [[England|English]] once widely claimed as history,<ref name=about-ms255>{{cite web |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/brut/about/ |publisher=quod.lib.umich.edu |access-date=20 Jan 2022 |title=About the Brut Chronicle and Manuscript 255 }}</ref> an original peopling of the [[island|isle]] — at the time a land only of fantastical [[giant]]s — by descendants of the above-mentioned Eneas, perhaps via Latinus, and at least with Latinus as [[step-family]] of an [[ancestor]], though even in the time of the [[Renaissance]], a non-English [[audience]] as well at least one English [[writer]] found details of the stories less than convincing.<ref name=Rastell>{{cite book |last=Rastell |first=Johannes |date=1529 |title=The pastyme of people |publisher=in chepesyde at the sygne of the mearemayd next to pollys gate |url=https://archive.org/details/pastymeofpeoplec00rast/page/n9/mode/1up }}</ref>

The island known later as [[Great Britain|Britain]], was also previously known as [[Alba]], similarity of name supporting connection to the city of [[Alba, Italy|Alba in Italy]], said to have been built by Alcanius, son of Eneas, and third ruler of the Latins after Latinus, being either his grandson or step-grandson.

Even if one ignored obviously far-fetched elements of this [[foundation myth]] of Britain, [[John Rastell|Johannes Rastell]] writing in [[1529]] questioned, along these lines: &nbsp;Supposing the original Brits were descendants of a line of Latin kings — Brute the son of Silvius, son of Alcanius, son of Eneas who came to the [[Italian peninsula]] from Troy — then why should such a fact have escaped record in the [[Caesar's commentaries|writings]] of [[Julius Caesar]] when he had personally [[Surveying|surveyed]] the lands there he had conquered for Rome by [[48 BC]]? And indeed, why should the son Brutus have escaped from Latin histories altogether, given they did deal with Silvius and Alcanius, and 'all theyr childera & what became of them & how they endyd that succeeded them as kyngis'?

Other details he found were able to be discounted without resort to factual records, or with only very few facts needed other than everyday experience. Were the early inhabitants of Britain giants, descended from [[the Devil]] in union with 32 daughters of a king [[Dioclisian of Syria]]?  To Rastell, if the devil had power to sow such seeds at the earlier time, then why not in his own time?  Where were the giants today?

Other fanciful elements he reduced by [[logical deduction]] from intuitive [[psychology|psychological insights]], for example the greatly diminished chance of 32 daughters [[marriage|married]] to 32 kings on a single day, and all cooperating to [[murder|kill]] those 32 husbands in a single night; or in combination with analysis of [[logistics|logistical]] realities, such as the suggested [[Travel|voyage]] of all 32 murderous [[widow]]s to Britain without dispersion or diversion, over three thousand miles.

One renaissance writer Rastell was further able to discount the likelihood of any factuality to that ancient tale, due to his failure to discover, after diligent research, any authentic record of its origin or explanation as to why such record should be absent.

=== Further reading ===
* One surviving version of the [[Brut chronicle]] is a late Middle Ages manuscript, known as the [[St Albans Chronicle]].<ref name=stalbc>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/lewis_e_238/page/n9/mode/2up |title=The St Albans Chronicle |date=1400 }}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Commons and category}}
*[[Latium]]
*[[Latin kings of Alba Longa]]
*[[Aborigines (mythology)]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
{{Wikisource|Theogony}}
*Hard, Robin, ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"'', Psychology Press, 2004, {{ISBN|9780415186360}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC Google Books].
* [[Hesiod]], ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'', in ''Hesiod: The Shield, Catalogue of Women, Other Fragments'', edited and translated by [[Glenn W. Most]], [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 503, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 2007, 2018. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99721-9}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL503/2018/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
*[[Livy]], ''[[Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Livy)|Ab urbe condita]]'', [[s:From the Founding of the City/Book 1#1|1:1-2]]
* Merkelbach, R., and [[Martin Litchfield West|M. L. West]], ''Fragmenta Hesiodea'', [[Clarendon Press]] Oxford, 1967. {{ISBN|978-0-19-814171-6}}.
*[[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'', VII, 45, 52, 69, 96.
*[[Virgil|Publius Vergilius Maro]], ''Aeneid.'' Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0054%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
*Publius Vergilius Maro, ''Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics''. J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0055 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
{{s-start}}
{{s-reg | leg }}
{{s-new | creation }}
{{s-ttl | title  = [[Latin kings of Alba Longa#King of the Aborigines|king of the Aborigines]] | years = 1217–1180 BC}}
{{s-aft | after  = [[Aeneas]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Aeneid}}

[[Category:Etruscan heroes]]
[[Category:Kings of Alba Longa]]
[[Category:Characters in the Aeneid]]
[[Category:Children of Odysseus]]
[[Category:Latins (Italic tribe)]]
[[Category:Children of Circe]]
[[Category:Legendary progenitors]]
[[Category:Mythological Italian people]]
[[Category:Progenitors in Greek mythology]]