Okay, so the thunderbolt was
deflected, but that’s okay. Like with horseshoes, hand grenades, and tactical
nuclear weapons, close counts with thunderbolts. The thunderbolt travels
through the ground and hits Anchises that way. It doesn’t kill him, but it weakens
his legs to the point he can’t stand on his own any more. He has been struck
lame, even worse than Hephaestus.
Aphrodite, though, is pregnant, and
gives birth to Aeneas, who is famous enough to have his own epic after a minor
role in Homer’s Iliad, and is named
as one of the founders of Rome after the fall of Troy.
As we saw with Diomedes, Aphrodite
is fond of Aeneas, intervening to save his life in the middle of the
battlefield. However, after giving birth to him, she’s done with Anchises. We
might think Aphrodite is shallow for doing this, but there’s every likelihood
that Anchises cannot stand up in other ways, so he’s not much good for
satisfying her lust.