Aeneas was a legendary figure in Roman mythology who was said to have founded the city of Rome. He was the son of the goddess Venus and the Trojan prince Anchises, and was a leader of the Trojans during the Trojan War. After the war, he fled to Italy and eventually founded the city of Lavinium, which was the precursor to Rome. AENEAS is often seen as the archetypal ancestor of the Romans, and his story is told in Virgil's epic poem, The Aeneid.