# Anchises — The Aeneid character guide

> Anchises in The Aeneid by Virgil.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** old Anchises, great Anchises, The good Anchises

**First appearance:** 0000-book-i

## Snapshot

The aged father Aeneas carries from burning Troy, whose voice summons the fleet to sea and whose death in Sicily leaves a grief the wanderers cannot outrun.

## Who they are

Anchises is the patriarch of the exiled Trojans, the man whose command Aeneas obeys even as Troy smolders behind them. He bears the household gods and the weight of the past, yet his body falters where his authority does not, and his death on Sicilian shores strands his son between duty to the living and reverence for the dead. His presence haunts the early voyage, and the rites Aeneas pays him shape the hero's piety long before the underworld gives him a voice again.

## Relationships

### [Ascanius](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_aeneid_se/characters/ascanius)

_family_

Anchises is Ascanius's grandfather, who dies early in the journey but appears as a prophetic spirit to guide his descendants.

### [Ascanius](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_aeneid_se/characters/ascanius)

_family_

Anchises is Ascanius's grandfather, who dies early in the journey but appears as a prophetic spirit to guide his descendants.

## In the story

### [Book II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_aeneid_se/chapters/book-ii)

Aeneas's father, carried from Troy on Aeneas's shoulders.

### [Book III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_aeneid_se/chapters/book-iii)

Interprets omens, advises the Trojans, and dies in Sicily.

### [Book V: Funeral Games and the Burning of the Ships](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_aeneid_se/chapters/book-v)

Appears to Aeneas in a vision, advising him to follow Nautes' counsel and to visit the Underworld.

### [Book VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_aeneid_se/chapters/book-vi)

Aeneas's father, who dwells in Elysium and reveals the future of Rome to his son.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_aeneid_se/characters/anchises
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_aeneid_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_aeneid_se/characters