| “ | You cannot deceive me about it for long. If I know or perceive that you turn your heart to love Aeneas the traitor from Troy, you must die at my two hands. Such love I could never endure. |
„ |
| ~ Amata threatening to kill Lavinia if she falls for Aeneas, Roman d’Eneas. |
Amata was an antagonist in Roman mythology, serving as a secondary antagonist in Virgil's epic poem Aeneid. She is the queen of the Latins and the mother of Lavinia, the fated bride of the Trojan hero Aeneas, who opposes the marriage of Aeneas and Lavinia.
Biography[]
Aeneid[]
Amata is the wife of Latinus, king of Latium, and the mother of Lavinia, who is promised to Turnus of the Rutuli. When survivors of the fall of Troy led by Aeneas arrive in Latium, a divine oracle tells Latinus and Amata to marry Lavinia to a foreigner, which Latinus correctly interprets to mean Aeneas. However, the goddess Juno has a murderous vendetta against all survivors of Troy and sends the fury Allecto to spread discord among the Latins. Finding Amata despondent over the loss of her daughter's marriage to Turnus, Allecto enters a viper into her which poisons her heart against the Trojans and drives her into a furore.
In her madness, Amata becomes convinced that Aeneas will abduct Lavinia as the Trojan Paris did to Helen of Sparta and urges Latinus to cancel the betrothal and give Lavinia to Turnus instead. When Latinus refuses to defy the gods, Amata goes into a frenzy and, falsely claiming to be acting under the authority of the god Bacchus, abducts Lavinia, hiding her in the woods. She then runs out into the city and incites the women of Latium to follow her in Bacchus' name.
Meanwhile, Allecto spurs Turnus to go to war for Lavinia's hand. Therefore, when Allecto's manipulations lead to a fatal skirmish between Trojans and Latins over a sacred deer, both Turnus and the women led by Amata call for war with the Trojans, falsely accusing them of plotting to take over Latium. Latinus' pleas for peace fall on deaf ears and he shuts himself away rather than face the anger of his people, allowing Turnus and Amata to summon all allies of Latium and Rutulia for war with Aeneas.
In the poem's final chapter, a duel between Aeneas and Turnus intended to decide the war ends in chaos when the Rutulians break the truce and attack the Trojans. In the confusion, the Trojans break through the Rutulian lines and lay siege to the walls of Latium. Seeing the walls under attack and the Rutulian column nowhere in sight, Amata wrongly concludes that Turnus has been killed and hangs herself in grief, blaming herself for the misfortunes that have now befallen Latium.
Other texts[]
Amata is an antagonist in Roman d’Eneas, a 12th century French retelling of Virgil's Aeneid. In this version, Amata hates Aeneas because she believes him to have betrayed the love of Dido, Queen of Carthage, resulting in her suicide (in reality he was forced to leave her by divine command). During the war over Lavinia, Amata privately urges her to marry Turnus and threatens to kill her should she fall in love with Aeneas. When Lavinia falls in love with Aeneas despite this, Amata goes on a lengthy rant accusing him of being a homosexual who hates women in order to discourage her daughter before threatening to disown her if she does not marry Turnus. As in the Aeneid, Amata commits suicide when she sees that Aeneas will win the war.
Amata appears in Dante's Divine Comedy, where Dante and the spirit of Virgil encounter her shade in Purgatory. Her suicide is held up as an example of the dangerous effects of anger, with Dante imagining Lavinia berating her mother's corpse for the grief her suicide has caused.
