Stele of Anchises
A monument to Virgil on the legendary coast of Anchises
The Stele of Anchises is a marble monument at Pizzolungo, erected in 1930 to commemorate Virgil and the ancient tradition connecting the coast of Erice with the death and burial of Aeneas's father Anchises.
Key facts
Site type:
Comune:
Monument, Memorial
Erice
District:
Pizzolungo
The Stele of Anchises, also known as the "Stele Virgiliana", stands on the coast at Pizzolungo below Monte Erice. It was erected in October 1930 to mark the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of the Roman poet Virgil and was financed by Giuseppe Platamone, then podestà of Trapani.
The monument commemorates the association between this stretch of the Ericine coast and events described in Virgil's Aeneid. In the poem, Anchises dies at Drepanum during Aeneas's journey from Troy to Italy, and Aeneas later returns to Sicily to honour his father at his tomb with sacrifices and funeral games.
The stele does not mark an archaeologically identified tomb. Instead, it reflects a much older tradition of locating the Virgilian landscape along the coast between Pizzolungo and Bonagia. Sicilian historians and antiquarians have attempted for centuries to identify places described in the Aeneid with features of the surrounding coastline.
Its inscription evokes the shore of Erice, the sea and the enduring memory of Virgil. The monument therefore brings together the ancient literary traditions associated with Anchises and Aeneas and the twentieth-century commemoration of the poet who connected their story so closely with western Sicily.
Photo: Elymian Atlas
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The Virgilian monument
The Stele of Anchises was erected in October 1930 during celebrations marking the bimillennium of Virgil's birth. Financed by Giuseppe Platamone, then podestà of Trapani, it was one of a number of monuments and projects created in Italy in connection with the anniversary.
The monument bears an inscription linking Virgil's poetry with the landscape and sea of Erice:
Perché sul lido d'Erice l'onda dei ricordi e la musica di Virgilio gli Italiani sentano eterne come il battito sonoro del mare
English translation:
So that on the shore of Erice, Italians may feel the wave of memories and the music of Virgil to be as eternal as the resounding beat of the sea.
The monument also belongs to the political and cultural context in which the anniversary was celebrated. Historian Tommaso Ricchieri places the Virgilian bimillennium within the Fascist government's promotion of Virgil and ancient Rome as symbols of Italian national identity. The inscription's appeal to Italians and to the enduring greatness of the past reflects this wider context.
The stele originally had gilded handles on its sides, which were subsequently stolen. After the monument was defaced with graffiti, it was cleaned in June 2025.
Legends & mythology
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Anchises and the Aeneid
The association of the Ericine coast with Anchises originates principally in Virgil's Aeneid. During Aeneas's voyage from Troy towards Italy, his elderly father Anchises dies at Drepanum, the ancient settlement associated with modern Trapani. Aeneas recalls his father's death as one of the greatest sorrows of his journey.
A year later, a storm drives the Trojans back to Sicily. Aeneas returns to his father's tomb and commemorates the anniversary of his death with sacrifices and elaborate funeral games. During the rites, a serpent emerges from the tomb and tastes the offerings placed there. Virgil leaves Aeneas uncertain whether the creature is the guardian spirit of the place or an attendant of Anchises himself.
The games held in Anchises's honour include a ship race, foot race, boxing contest and archery competition. The episode places the sea and landscape around Drepanum at the centre of one of the most extensive Sicilian passages in the Aeneid.
The story also connects Anchises directly with Mount Eryx. After the Trojan women set fire to the ships, some of Aeneas's followers remain in Sicily. Before continuing his journey, Aeneas establishes a sanctuary to Venus on Mount Eryx and appoints a priest to tend Anchises's tomb, which Virgil describes as surrounded by a sacred grove.
Searching for the tomb of Anchises
Virgil identifies the setting of Anchises's death and burial with the region around Drepanum and Eryx, but does not provide a location that can be securely identified with a surviving archaeological site. Later historians therefore attempted to match the landscape described in the Aeneid with actual places along the Ericine coast.
The tradition can be traced at least to the sixteenth century. In 1558 the Sicilian historian Tommaso Fazello associated the coast at Bonagia with Virgil's account. Later writers, including the Ericine historians Antonio Cordici and Giuseppe Vito Castronovo, also considered possible locations for Anchises's tomb and the funeral games.
From the eighteenth century onwards, several writers identified Isola Asinelli, the small rocky island off the coast below Monte Erice, with the offshore rock used as the turning point during the ship race in the Aeneid. In 1947 Nicola Lamia argued that the harbour and surrounding landscape described by Virgil should instead be identified more specifically with the Gulf of Bonagia.
Vittorio Sartarelli later placed the funeral games along the coast between Pizzolungo and Bonagia and likewise identified Isola Asinelli with the turning point of the ship race. He suggested that the position chosen for the Stele of Anchises reflected a tradition locating the legendary tomb inland from the monument, towards the slopes of Monte Erice. These identifications remain interpretations of Virgil's literary geography rather than archaeological evidence for the location of Anchises's tomb.
Sources & further reading
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