Nisus and Euryalus
Trojan warriors whose loyalty and love end in tragedy.
Nisus and Euryalus are two young Trojan warriors in Virgil's Aeneid, known for their close bond and tragic fate. Their stealth mission behind enemy lines in book nine ends in death when loot taken by Euryalus betrays them. The pair also appear in book five during the funeral games of Anchises, where their amor pius is noted.
Quick Facts
- Parents
- Nisus: son of Hyrtacus; Euryalus: son of Opheltes
- Notable episode
- Foray among the enemy in book nine of the Aeneid
Facts from the source article.
Mythology
Nisus and Euryalus are among the Trojan refugees who, after the fall of Troy, follow Aeneas. Nisus, son of Hyrtacus, was known for hunting and his family cultivated the huntress-goddess of Mount Ida. Euryalus, younger, was trained by his father Opheltes, who died at Troy, and has lived his whole life in war and displacement. After wandering the Mediterranean, the Trojans land in Italy; Euryalus's mother refused to be left behind in Sicily and continued with the group.
In the narrative, Nisus is the elder, swift and accurate with the javelin and arrows. Euryalus is still a boy, not yet shaving, but old enough to bear arms; he is described as more beautiful than any other of Aeneas's men. He maintains a loving relationship with his mother and, before the mission, refuses to see her to avoid her tears, but his first concern is that she be cared for if he dies. The foray is a self-contained episode in the Iliadic half of the epic, set during the war in central Italy.
The pair had already appeared in book five, during the funeral games for Anchises, where the footrace prefigures their disastrous mission.
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