Aphrodite (Venus) stands over her wounded son Aeneas. Aeneas leans on his spear while an arrow is removed from his thigh by the physician Iapyx (Iapigius). Beside him stands his weeping son, Ascanius (Iulus, Julus, or Ascanius Julius). From a Roman fresco at Pompeii depicting Virgil's Aeneid. In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas, Prince of Troy, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite who frequently comes to his aid on the battlefield. He is a favorite of Apollo. Aphrodite and Apollo rescue Aeneas from combat with Diomedes of Argos, who nearly kills him, and carry him away to Pergamos for healing. The journey of Aeneas from Troy which led to the founding of a hamlet south of Rome, is recounted in Virgil's Aeneid. He is an important figure in Greek and Roman legend.