...In The Aeneid, Aeneas’ and his brother are on their way to Rome. After fighting in the Trojan War, Aeneas’ was destined to begin a new Roman Empire. As they were continuing on there way this is where they ran into Dido and have found the shores of the city of Carthage. At this point in the book is where we find out who is to blame for Aeneas departure from Carthage and Dido committing suicide. I would not blame Aeneas for his departure or the Dido committing suicide; the gods are the ones to blame for the death of Dido and Aeneas departing from Carthage. Just like in the Greek era, the Roman gods were very powerful figure and have considerable influenced to the Roman people. Everyone devoted his or her life to the gods. Even though the gods did have control over Aeneas’s fate by leading him to Rome, but I still think they are going about it the wrong way. Juno, the queen of the gods, had the major role in causing all this to happen. Juno does not like Aeneas and is making his journey to Rome harder than it ever should be. To prove my point Venus had stated to Juno, “this was all pretense, a ruse to shift the kingdom of Italy onto Libyan shores,” (131) Venus is describing want Juno had setup for Aeneas to change direction. This is prefect example that Juno is doing everything she can just to stop Aeneas from conquering his journey to Rome and to start a new empire. Juno just so happens to have Aeneas change his direction and land on the shores of Libyan. The quote even says that...
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...During the time when Aeneas is escaping from Troy with his family, why doesn’t he look back when he feels that his wife, Creusa, is being taken away? While escaping from Troy, Aeneas feels that the Greeks are catching up to the fugitive group and he tells his son to run ahead. Then he says that a strange enemy power robbed him of his senses. Aeneas’ wife is trailing behind him and he feels that she is being taken away yet he doesn’t even look back to make sure that his own wife is still with the group. The main clue for why Aeneas doesn’t even look back to make sure that his wife is there; is when he says that something came over him robbing him of his senses. It is made clearer later when he goes back to Troy to look for his wife. He is walking through the streets of Troy yelling his wife’s name when Creusa’s ghost appears before him. She tells him that the gods forbid him from taking her with him. The ghost says that they are not allowed to be together outside of Troy and that Jupiter, the king of Olympus, also won’t allow it. She tells him that he must sail to Hesperian land and there “great joy and a kingdom are [his] to claim, and a queen to make [his] wife.” The ghost tells Aeneas to put his sorrow of losing his wife away and to look forward to what is to come. At the end of her little speech she says that the Great Mother of Gods detains her at Troy. This also raises another question why did the gods want him to travel alone without his wife. Why are they giving him a...
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...I really enjoyed reading both The Aeneid and Metamorphoses. I found that reading both of these assignments much more fluent than reading The Iliad was-meaning that it was easier for me to comprehend. The only aspects which I did not like for both assignments was the consistent need to refer to the footnotes for a more detailed explanation on those words which had footnotes associated with them. I felt that referring to those footnotes tended to slow down the pace of my reading. The other aspect which I did not like was that the Gods had different names-i.e. Jupiter as opposed to Zeus. That confused me somewhat in the beginning of the readings. In regards to The Aeneid, I really enjoyed how the story begins with a storm which disperses Aeneas’s ships. This separates him and his comrades “For years they wandered as their destiny drove them on from one sea to the next: so hard and huge a task it was to found the Roman people.” (NAWL p.1056) Apparently Juno was still upset with the Trojans “baleful Juno in her sleepless rage.” (NAWL p.1055) Eventually Aeneas arrived in Carthage, where he is greeted by Dido, queen of Carthage. Here Aeneas recaps all of the events of how the Trojans were tricked by the Greeks with the implementation of the Trojan horse “Knowing their strength broken in warfare, turned back by the fates, and years-so many years-already slipped away, the Danaan captains by the divine handicraft of Pallas built a horse of timber, tall as a hill, and sheathed its ribs...
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...Are Aeneas and Dido married in the Aeneid? In the Aeneid, Aeneas meets a women named Dido and they start to develop feelings for each other. They go hunting in the woods, and the gods make it rain so Aeneas and Dido will have to take shelter in a cave. The gods planned this so they would make love in the cave. Dido and Aeneas did make love in the cave and now Dido saw them as married. She said, “She no longer thinks to keep the affair secret, no, she calls it a marriage, using the word to cloak her sense of guilt,” (Virgil, 133). The important part in this quote is the words “using the word to cloak her sense of guilt,” as it determines if they were actually married or not. By using love to cloak her guilt, Dido definitely fell in love with...
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...Grief plays a major role in Virgil’s The Aeneid. It acts as many characters’ primary motivation and in turn drives the plot of the epic. Most of the major events that occur directly or indirectly relate to the grief a character feels. Whether a character mourns the loss of their country and kingdom or someone close to them, their grief greatly influences their actions and evokes extreme decisions. Grief is prevalent throughout the entire epic, influencing the majority of character’s decisions and the plot even more so than other integral aspects of the work such as love and fate. Grief drives characters’ actions and the epic’s plot more than anything else, making it the central focus of the epic. Grief of the loss of one’s country is perhaps the most prevalent example of grief illustrated throughout the epic. The protagonist, Aeneas, expresses mourning for the loss of Troy numerous times throughout the work, “Sorrow too deep to tell, your majesty,/You order me to feel and tell once more:/How the Danaans leveled in the dust/The splendor of our mourned-forever kingdom” (Virgil 2.3-6). His anguish drives his actions...
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...Greek and Roman legends have always been very similar to each other. For example, they have all the same gods and goddesses, but under different names – Jupiter and Zeus, Mercury and Hermes, Diana and Artemis. But the two myths The Odyssey and The Aeneid parallel each other so severely that it’s fairly disarming. Their plots, adventures, romances, and time periods all coincide with one another. They have the potential to be compared and contrasted endlessly. The similarities of these two works begin in the titles themselves. The main characters of these two works are Odyssey and Aeneas – their stories’ respective titles reflect their names. These tales both take place shortly after the Trojan war. Odysseus, a Greek, was on the winning side, and is leaving victorious. Aeneas, however, has lost the war, and is fleeing Troy as he was instructed to by the gods. Odysseus believes he is finished with his adventures for the time being. It has been prophesized to Aeneas that he is to discover Rome. Both these men are seeking a home: Odysseus is trying to make his way back to Ithaca, whist Aeneas is looking for a new one. Both of them are surrounded by crew members. Both of them will be alone by the time the stories draw to a conclusion. Odysseus and Aeneas both have a god – or goddess – working against them. Odysseus, after injuring the Cyclops Polyphemus, son of Poseidon (Neptune, Roman form), has made an enemy in the god of the sea. Aeneas, on the other hand, has done nothing wrong...
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...Augustine, he was always studying philosophy and popular works that were written before his age. The ancient Greek poet Virgil, author of The Aeneid, was an influential author in Augustine’s own piece, Confessions. Augustine creates a similar story to The Aeneid by recycling many of Virgil’s ideas and forming a role model for Christians around the world in his story, Confessions. Similarities between The Aeneid and Confessions are abounding. Augustine uses a very similar geographical route in his story that Virgil uses in Aeneas’s conquest. In Book III of Confessions, Augustine moves to Carthage, the same city in which Aeneas arrives in The Aeneid. Augustine, like Aeneas, leaves Carthage and goes to Italy. Both characters eventually fulfill their missions in Italy. Aeneas ultimately finds Rome, and Augustine discovers Catholicism and the Lord in Milan. Upon arrival in Carthage, Augustine reminds the reader of Aeneas’s story saying, “I came to Carthage and all around me hissed a cauldron of illicit loves” (Book III, i). In this reference to The Aeneid, Augustine describes the love affair of Dido and Aeneas. Although they profess openly as lovers after their adventure in the caves, they are not technically married. In Augustine’s own life, he has a lover and they are not married. Ultimately, both couples are separated. In the Aeneid, Aeneas leaves Dido after Jupiter sends a messenger to tell Aeneas that his future is not in Carthage with Dido, but instead in Italy. Similarly...
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...The resemblance regarding the hellish nightmares of tortured souls, desecrated bodies, and the regrets of the dead and living are scattered all over in descriptions regarding the Underworld in Greek and Roman literature; in Homer's Odyssey and of Vergil's Aeneid, both had a noticeable emphasis on their own definition of the, “invisible world,” but while both showed off that particular brand of afterlife rather vividly in their own styles ways and particular reactions to it, many people argue that the Aeneid copied from the Odysseus heavily. However, while the Aeneid did copy verses and the general progression of the story from the Odyssey, the centuries of separation between works and cultures show themselves as the two poems are examined more in-depth. Some of the more prominent reasons that many see that the Aeneid copied...
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...Pacifistic Poetry: The Odyssey and The Aeneid as Anti-War Stories Ancient Roman and Greek cultures are revered in modern times for their inventive battle tactics. However, a close examination of important texts from this time shows that people of these ancient cultures may have not held their own military prowess into the same regard. Both Homer’s Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid depict the consequences of war as irreversible, long-lasting, and incredibly violent, creating an underlying anti-war message. The Odyssey takes place after the Trojan War, a battle which has separated the eponymous character from his homeland for ten years. The disappearance of Odysseus during this time has caused incredible sorrow and suffering for those around him....
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...Life is made of decisions and these same decisions imply making sacrifices. We Humans are forced to give up on current attainable pleasures to focus on our main goals and objectives that may turn out to be otherwise unattainable. We are challenged every day to surpass those obstacles that hold us back, knowing that they can be very meaningful. In the epic of The Aeneid, written by the Roman poet, Virgil, we come across Aeneas, who is marked by his loyalty and devotion, his pietas. This epic also raises the controversy of weather Aeneas wrongs Dido. However, his unquestionable obedience to the gods cannot possibly be blamed for Dido’s heartbroken soul. In the early books of the Aeneid, Aeneas is presented as the son of gods, a valiant, brave...
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...Odyssey and the Aeneid describe the journeys of the two Greek heroes –Odysseus and Aeneas, as they struggle towards their goal through the crises and deadly situations caused by the wrath of the gods upon them. In the Odyssey, we see that Poseidon (god of the sea/earth shaker) has a grudge against Odysseus while Athena, god of wisdom, aids him throughout his journey. Similarly in the Aeneid, we see that goddess Juno dislikes Aeneas as he is destined to destroy the city of Carthage loved by Juno during his mission to find a new land- Rome, whereas Aeneas’ mother Venus aids him. In these epics, many points of similarity and differences arise such as the characters of the heroes, how their journeys are delayed by women obsessed with love, what they are destined for and how they achieve the final goal in the end of the epic. The very first similarity we see in both the epics is that Virgil starts his poem in the same way Homer does, that is they both refer to Muses to sing about the epic heroes of Greek mythology- Odysseus and Aeneas. Virgil again refers to Muses for the second time in book six of the Aeneid. Another similarity is the assembly of gods in Olympus described by both Virgil and Homer. As seen in the Odyssey, Odysseus’ character is clever and smart one. He is a learner and later becomes self controlling. His ‘never give up’ attitude shows that he can go through any situation to get what he wants. Also, his character is full of twists and turns. While in the Aeneid, Aeneas is...
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...Juno throughout the entire story does not want Aeneas to found Rome, which is what is fated to happen. Once an object is fated, no one, including the Gods can change it. But as Juno realizes there is some wiggle room inside of fate. Juno may not be able to prevent fate, but she is able to do while staying within the constraints of fate, prolong the process of founding Rome, and kill as many people as possible. Juno realizes that she cannot delay the formation of Rome alone, and will need as many allies and detractions as she can get. She even states: “If I can sway/ no heavenly hearts I’ll rouse the world below” (7, 425-426). She is going to do everything both within her own authority, and the constructions of fate to lengthen the establishment of Rome. Even if this process involves using the mortal world. She is first going to plead with the fellow Gods, and if that doesn’t work she is going to provoke the humans. Juno does provoke the humans when she starts the war between that Latins and the surviving Trojan soldiers. Which in turn accomplishes both of her goals, she is able to slow down Aeneas, and also kill off many men. She is also well aware she cannot fully prevent the founding of Rome as much as she may like to, because it is already fated to happen. She states this for the reader: “It will not be permitted me-so be it-/ To keep the man from rule in Italy;” (7, 427-428). She knows the fate for Aeneas is already laid out and cannot be fully changed; he is going to create...
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...The presentation of death in Vergil’s work, The Aeneid, indicates the inescapable will of the gods. Written as Roman ktisis poetry, or a “foundation myth”, Vergil wrote The Aeneid to strengthen the political influence of Augustus and provide the citizens of Rome with an ethnic identity (Mianowski 68). To fulfill this purpose, throughout the poem, the themes and events Vergil presents are distinctly Roman. In The Aeneid, the scenes detailing Laocoon and his sons’ deaths, and Creusa’s suicide, show that Romans view the concept of death as a tool to serve the Gods’ purposes. Not only did The Aeneid provide the Roman citizens with a common cultural bond, it also influenced the image of the afterlife in other notable works. Creusa’s death, which...
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...Common Era. An analysis of the two ancient writings The Aeneid and Agamemnon show many similar themes and blatant differences apparent in each story. By examining these two stories in detail, a greater understanding and appreciation of ancient literature can be acquired. Since man first began engaging in religious practices, stories with religious elements and themes have resulted. These two stories are no exception. Ancient Greek and Roman religious themes are present in both The Aeneid and Agamemnon. Both stories revolve around the philosophy that what we do with our lives is controlled by the Gods and to disrespect and dishonor the Gods is blasphemy, which will automatically lead to punishment. Both stories are similar in that the Gods are the beholders of the ultimate supreme power and the deciders of our hero’s fates. In other words, if it is not written by the Gods, then it is not the will of the Gods, and is therefore not to be done. It is also apparent in both stories that pleasing the Gods is everything to the characters and ultimately a deciding factor in their roles. Without the acceptance and pleasing of the Gods, the characters see their actions as not worthy and show the Gods ultimate power to keep them in line to fulfill their desires. It is seen as best to follow what the Gods lay down for your fate rather than deal with the unpleasant consequences ahead if you do not. In the story The Aeneid, Aeneas is faced with temptation and has to decide...
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...Virgil’s “hopes” for Rome In Virgil’s most famous piece, The Aeneid, a story about the founding of Rome, Vigil ends the book with a very significant ending. At the end of the book, Vigil describes the one on one battle between Aeneas, a great Trojan leader, and Turnus, a hotheaded Rutulian warrior, “Relentless, he sinks his sword into the chest of Turnus” (12.1268-1269), this describes the final scene of the story on why Aeneas kills Turnus, because he remembers that Turnus is the one that killed Aeneas’ friend Pallas. With the killing of Turnus, this begins to raise some questions about Vigil’s hope for Rome. In the following essay, I am going to argue why Vigil would end his great piece, The Aeneid, in this way. One significant reason Virgil would end the story with Turnus being defeated in a final battle by Aeneas is because he wants Rome to be an everlasting empire, and the founder of Rome is Aeneas himself. In Jupiters words to his daughter Venus, Jupiter is describing to his daughter the future of the Roman Empire, “I set no limits to their fortunes and no time; I give them empire without end” (1.389-390). Here Virgil tells the words of Jupiter to his daughter Venus, Virgil is emphasizing that in all the years there will be no end to Rome, meaning that Vigil’s hope for Rome is that Rome is a never ending empire that may not be defeated or destroyed. Therefore, the killing of Turnus may raise questions about Vigil’s “hopes” for Rome because Turnus is an Italian himself;...
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