Creusa
(Eurydice)

Creusa was the eldest daughter of Priam and Hecuba.

She married Aeneas, son of Anchises and Aphrodite, and bore him a son named Ascanius (Iulus).

After the fall of Troy, Aeneas fled with his father and son. He looked for Creusa, but she had gotten separated.

In the Aeneid, Aeneas tells Dido of his search for his wife, Creusa, after the siege of Troy.

(II.767) Ausus quin etiam voces iactare per umbram implevi clamore vias maestusque Creusam nequiquam ingeminans iterumque iterumque vocavi. Quaerenti et tectis urbis sine fine furenti infelix simulacrum atque ipsius umbra Creusae visa mihi ante oculos et nota maior imago. Obstipui, steteruntque comae et vox faucibus haesit. Tum sic affari et curas his demere dictis: "Quid tantum insano iuvat indulgere dolori, O dulcis coniunx? Non haec sine numine divum eveniunt; nec te comitem hinc portare Creusam fas, aut ille sinit superi regnator Olympi. Longa tibi exsilia, et vastum maris aequor arandum ..... illic res laetae regunmque et regia coniunx parta tibi. Lacrimas dilectae pelle Creusae. Non ego Myrmidonum sedes Dolopumve superbas aspiciam, aut Grais servitum matribus ibo, Dardanis, et divae Veneris nurus. "Sed me magna deum genetrix his detinet oris: iamque vale, et nati serva communis amorem." Haec ubi dicta dedit, lacrimantem et multa volentem dicere deseruit, tenuesque recessit in auras. Ter conatus ibi collo dare bracchia circum: ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago, par levibus ventis volucrique simillima somno.

Also, moreover, I, having dared to throw voices through the shadow, filled up the streets with a shout and, sad, I have called Creusa repeating again and again in vain. As I searched and rushed without end among the roofs of the city, the unlucky image of Creusa herself appeared before the eyes for me and an image greater than known. I was stunned. Then she began to speak and she took away my cares with these words: "What does it help to indulge in mad grief, O sweet husband? These things didn't happen without the divine will of the gods; it is neither the divine will for you to carry your companion Creusa from this place, nor does that ruler of proud Olympus (Jupiter) allow it. [There will be] long exiles for you, and the vast surface of the sea must be plowed [by you] ... There happy things and a kingdom and a queenly wife await you. Repel your tears for the beloved Creusa. I will not see the proud seats of the Myrmidonian and Dolopians, and I will not go to serve Greek mothers, [I], descendant of Dardania, and daughter-in-law of divine Venus. "But the great mother of the gods detains me on these shores: and now farewell and save the love of our common son." When she gave these words, she left [me] crying and wishing to say many things, and she receeded into thin air. There thrice having tried to surround her neck with my arms: thrice in vain the image, having been grasped, fled my hands, equal to the light winds and very like to a fleeting dream.

Although Creusa appears as a shade in the Aeneid, some say that she was not, in fact, dead, and had instead been detained alive by Aphrodite (Bell, 142).

While Creusa plays a relatively minor role in the Aeneid, her son, Ascanius, was destined for greater things, and founded the Julian line when Aeneas reached Italy.

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