Evander of Pallantium

Lore & Background

Evander was the son of Hermes and the Arcadian nymph Carmenta (also known as Nicostrate). His wisdom surpassed that of all Arcadians. According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, some writers including Polybius say Lavinia was Evander's daughter and had a son with Heracles named Pallas. Evander's son Pallas is sometimes said to have died childless, though the gens Fabia claimed descent through Fabius, son of Hercules by a daughter of Evander, and other traditions contradict this.

Evander's reasons for leaving Arcadia are disputed: Ovid states he angered the gods and was exiled by trial; Dionysius describes civil unrest; a marginal tradition in Servius (on Aeneid 8.51) recounts that Evander killed his mother and was exiled as a result. In canonical myth, Evander does not kill Erulus; the story of the three-souled Erulus is typically associated with Hercules.

In Virgil's Aeneid, Evander aids Aeneas against Turnus and the Rutuli, having known Aeneas's father Anchises before the Trojan War and sharing ancestry through Atlas. He entertained Hercules returning from Gades with Geryon's cattle and erected the first altar to Hercules' heroism, the Great Altar of Hercules in the Forum Boarium, which was reportedly destroyed in the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64, though some sources suggest it survived or was rebuilt.

Reader's Guide

Evander's significance lies in his role as a bridge between Greek and Roman mythological traditions, embodying the transfer of culture from Arcadia to Italy. His founding of Pallantium on the Palatine Hill directly connects him to the origins of Rome, a link reinforced by Strabo's mention of Rome as an Arcadian colony founded by Evander. The festival of the Lupercalia, which he instituted, remained a central Roman ritual. Virgil's Aeneid elevates Evander to a key ally of Aeneas, using his character to weave together the heroic past of myth with the Augustan Age, particularly through the Great Altar of Hercules. The conflicting accounts of his exile and genealogy preserved by ancient writers highlight the fluid nature of myth and the multiple traditions that shaped Roman identity. His deification and altar on the Aventine Hill underscore his lasting veneration.

Did You Know?

• Evander founded Pallantium sixty years before the Trojan War.
• He instituted the festival of the Lupercalia.
• The Great Altar of Hercules, erected by Evander, was reportedly destroyed in the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64, though some sources suggest it survived or was rebuilt.
• Strabo mentions a story that Rome was an Arcadian colony founded by Evander.