Palinurus

Palinurus, in Roman mythology and especially Virgil's Aeneid, is the helmsman of Aeneas's ship. Later authors used him as a general type of navigator or guide.

Palinurus in the Aeneid

In Book 3, which tells of the Trojans' wanderings after The Fall of Troy, he is singled out as an experienced navigator. In Book 5, when the Trojans have left Carthage, he advises Aeneas to forestall sailing to Italy and to wait out a terrible storm on Sicily, where they hold the funeral games honoring Aeneas's father, Anchises. After they leave Sicily for Italy, Palinurus, at the helm of Aeneas's ship and leading the fleet, is singled out by Virgil in second person when it becomes clear that he is the one whom the gods will sacrifice to guarantee safe passage to Italy for the Trojans: unum pro multis dabitur caput, "one single life shall be offered to save many." Drugged by the god of sleep, he falls overboard; Aeneas takes over the helm and, unaware of the gods' influence, accuses Palinurus of complacency: "You, Palinurus, placed too much trust in the sky and the ocean's / Calm. You'll lie naked and dead on the sands of an unknown seashore."

Palinurus (genus)

Palinurus is a genus of spiny lobsters in the family Palinuridae. A 110-million-year-old fossil, recognisable as a member of the genus Palinurus, was discovered in a quarry in El Espinal in Mexico's Chiapas state in 1995 and named P. palaciosi.

Species

This is a complete list of extant species:

References

Palinurus (disambiguation)

Palinurus can also refer to: