Does the Aeneid provide any insight into pre-Roman Italic culture

>>3282228
Personally I think it's pretty bullshit, serving mainly to raise the prestige of Augustus, but the tale of Romans being descended from Anatolian Trojans is interesting. It possibly lends credence to the theory that the Etruscans, whom the Romans got a number of cultural aspects from, originated from Anatolia. I think it serves as an allegory to the Etruscans and their influence on Rome.

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>>3282228
>It possibly lends credence to the theory that the Etruscans, whom the Romans got a number of cultural aspects from, originated from Anatolia.

Every sign points to it but no one on 4chan is prepared to face that truth

Myth. His version of Pre-Roman Latinium basically lines up with Roman legend, as Evander is a key character, and he's the guy the Romans believed introduced the Gods to Italy.
He may have taken some tribal names from known Italic tribes, and possibly some mythic figures

>>3282228
Virgil was even further removed from pre-Roman culture than Homer was from Mycenaean culture.

>>3282610
That doesn't mean he didn't know a thing or two about local folklore

>>3282228
It provides a lot of insight into the Romans -- not into where they came from, but into how they saw themselves, where they liked to think they came from.

>>3283366
True, I didn't mean it as in those poets knew absolutely nothing about the past. Of course a few historical truths or half-truths are going to seep down through the ages, but the bulk of the setting would still be informed by the contemporary world and their foggy understanding of the past.

>>3282228
It was indeed 100% bullshit. Even the Iliad was bullshit. It was just Greeks writing their OC fanfiction.

>>3282228
I know the story of Aeneas being the patriarch of the Julian clan predates Virgil, but what is the earliest reference to it that we know of? I