Colonisation and the Feminine: Foundation Myths and Roman Identity in Vergil’s 'Aeneid'

Abstract

In this paper, I explore how Indigenous women have historically been utilised within settler colonial frameworks, both ancient and modern. Interpreted through post-colonial theory and the lens of settler colonialism in colonial Canada, I examine how two ancient Indigenous Italian women—Camilla and Lavinia—are depicted and treated in Vergil’s Aeneid. Through their suitability and readiness for marriage, their representation, and their indigeneity and relationships to the Italian land, the text reveals how each woman is positioned within the Trojan colonialist agenda. Camilla, though possessing Roman traits, is constructed as an ‘Other’—a liminal and nonconforming Volscian warrior whose deep connection to the land renders her as an impediment and unassimilable to the Trojan colonialist programme. Therefore, she is erased. Lavinia, by contrast, embodies both Indigenous Italian identity and proto-Roman ideals associated with Augustan femininity. Thus, Lavinia is assimilable into the Trojan colonialist programme. Ultimately, this analysis underscores how gender and indigeneity intersect in literary narratives to reflect broader colonial strategies of erasure and assimilation.