Ripheus

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Ripheus, also known as Rhipeus, Rifeo, and Rupheo, is a Trojan hero from Virgil’s Aeneid. He fought with Aeneas to defend Troy and was killed when the city fell. Virgil calls him the most just of the Trojans, but the gods grant him no reward for his virtue.

In Dante’s Divine Comedy, Ripheus is placed in Heaven, in the realm of justice, which contrasts with Virgil’s placement in Hell as a pagan guide. Dante even has Ripheus converted to Christianity after a vision of Jesus before Christ’s birth, during the Trojan War.

In Boccaccio’s Il Filostrato, Ripheus is captured by the Greeks; this tale influenced Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, where Ripheo is named briefly at the end.

João de Barros, a 16th‑century Portuguese historian, told a legend that Ripheus (called Riphane) helped found Troia, Portugal, near Setúbal. According to the story, his group fought Greeks led by Ulysses near Lisbon. It is unclear if this Ripheus is the same as Virgil’s, or a later invention, and scholars debate the connections between these versions.

Some post‑classical traditions imagine Trojan heroes surviving after the fall of Troy, a motif that appears in various tellings.

A small asteroid, 188847 Rhipeus, was named after the Trojan warrior. It was discovered in 2006 and officially named in 2008.