Palinurus
Coxswain sacrificed so Trojans could reach Italy.
Palinurus is the coxswain of Aeneas' ship in Roman mythology, particularly in Virgil's Aeneid. He is notable as an example of human sacrifice, as his life is the price for the Trojans landing in Italy. Later authors used him as a general type of navigator or guide.
Quick Facts
- Mythology
- Roman
- Role
- Coxswain of Aeneas' ship
- Key text
- Virgil's Aeneid
- Named location
- Cape Palinuro
- Known for
- Human sacrifice to guarantee Trojan safe passage to Italy; later used as a type of navigator or guide
- Counterpart
- Homer's Elpenor
Facts from the source article.
Palinurus in the Aeneid
In Book 3 of the Aeneid, Palinurus is singled out as an experienced navigator during the Trojans' wanderings after the fall of Troy. In Book 5, after leaving Carthage, he advises Aeneas to wait out a storm on Sicily, where funeral games honor Aeneas's father Anchises. When the Trojans depart Sicily for Italy, Palinurus is at the helm of Aeneas's ship, leading the fleet. Virgil addresses him in second person, making clear that the gods have chosen him as the sacrifice to guarantee safe passage: 'unum pro multis dabitur caput' ('one single life shall be offered to save many'). The god of sleep drugs him, and he falls overboard. Aeneas takes the helm and, unaware of divine influence, accuses Palinurus of complacency. Later, in the underworld before crossing Cocytus, Aeneas meets Palinurus, who explains that he survived the fall, drifted for four days, was washed ashore near Velia, and was killed there, left unburied. The Cumaean Sibyl predicts that locals will build him a mound and name the place Cape Palinuro. Classical scholar Bill Gladhill calls this death 'the most lucid example of this representation of human sacrifice in which the divine perspective construes his death in terms of unus pro multis'. Scholars see Palinurus as a counterpart to Homer's Elpenor, who dies on Circe's island and remains unburied until Odysseus cremates him. Virgil adapts this tradition, changing details such as the cremation ceremony to fit Roman custom. The episode also shows the influence of the 'shipwreck' trope popular before Virgil, as noted by Richard F. Thomas in connection with epigrams from the Milan Papyrus ascribed to Posidippus.
Later references
Martial's epigram 3.78 plays on Palinurus's name with an obscene pun, deriving a humorous etymology from Greek πάλιν ('again') and the root of οὐρέω ('to urinate'), thus 'again-pisser'. In the early thirteenth century, William the Breton compared Christ to Palinurus in the 'Invocatio divini auxilii' of his epic poem the Philippide, writing 'You are the path, You are my guide, You are the ship, You are my Palinurus. Make my passage through the rough seas safe for me. In the fifteenth century, Maffeo Vegio published a dialogue of the dead titled Palinurus or On Happiness and Misery, featuring a conversation between Palinurus and Charon, where Palinurus laments his lot while Charon expounds Stoic philosophy. Since the nineteenth century, scholars have identified Palinurus with Manfred, King of Sicily, in Dante's Purgatorio, though he is never named. Manfred's remains, covered by a mound of stones, were disinterred by order of the Catholic Church because he had been excommunicated by three successive popes. Canto 3 of Purgatorio, the canto of the 'sheepfold of the excommunicates', discusses the body and soul, exclusion from burial, safety, sacraments, and divine grace. It opens with Virgil mentioning his own burial and the translation of his body from Brindisi to Naples, drawing a connection between Virgil and Palinurus.
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