In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, Aeneus was the legendary founder of the ancient Thracian

Thrace

Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...

 city of Aenus

Aenus (Thrace)

Aenus , modern Enez in Turkey, was an ancient Greek city on the southeastern coast of Thrace. Formerly called Poltyobria , it was located near the mouth of the Hebrus River, not far from the Melas Gulf , which is formed by the Thracian Chersonesus to the east...

 (also called Poltyobria or Poltymbria). He was the father of Cyzicus

Cyzicus (Greek mythology)

King Cyzicus ruled over the Dolionians, a tribe that inhabited the southern shore of the Propontis. He gave his name to a city of the same name, Cyzicus, his capital. King Cyzicus welcomed the Argonauts on their journey to Colchis; but after their departure, a storm drove them back to the...

. He is sometimes confused with the famous legendary hero Aeneas

Aeneas

Aeneas , in Greco-Roman mythology, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was the second cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas Priam's second cousin, once removed. The journey of Aeneas from Troy , which led to the founding a hamlet south of...

, due solely to the similarity in spelling. Aeneas's parentage has been given as Apollo

Apollo

Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...

 and Stilbe

Stilbe

Stilbe in Greek mythology was a nymph, daughter of the river god Peneus and the Naiad Creusa. She bore Apollo twin sons, Centaurus, ancestor of the Centaurs, and Lapithus, ancestor of the Lapiths. In another version of the myth, Centaurus was instead the son of Ixion and Nephele. Aineus, father of...

, daughter of the Thessalian river-god Peneus

Peneus

In Greek mythology, Peneus was a Thessalian river god, one of the three thousand Rivers , a child of Oceanus and Tethys. The nymph Creusa bore him one son, Hypseus, who was King of the Lapiths, and three daughters, Menippe , Daphne, and Stilbe. He also had a son Atrax with Bura, and Andreus with...

. This would make Aeneas the brother of Lapithes and Centaurus

Centaurus

Centaurus is a bright constellation in the southern sky. One of the largest constellations, Centaurus was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations.-Stars:...

, the founders of the ancient Lapith

Lapith

The Lapiths are a legendary people of Greek mythology, whose home was in Thessaly, in the valley of the Peneus and on the mountain Pelion.They were an Aeolian tribe. Like the Myrmidons and other Thessalian tribes, the Lapiths were pre-Hellenic in their origins...

 and Centaur

Centaur

In Greek mythology, a centaur or hippocentaur is a member of a composite race of creatures, part human and part horse...

 tribes in Thessaly

Thessaly

Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....

. However, this Aeneus may have been intended as the eponymous founder of the Aenianes, another Thessalian tribe, and may not be the same as the founder of the Thracian city of Aenus. Given that the ancient city of Cyzicus was said to be founded by Thessalians, this Thessalian Aeneus may have been intended as the father of the mythical person named Cyzicus, founder of the city of the same name.