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Vergil's Aeneid - correct answer ✔-Arma virumque cano (I sing of arms and
man)
-Tells story of Trojan prince who fled from Troy when Greeks had won Trojan
War
-Aeneas wanders
-He ends up in Latium where he founds the Roman people
-Genre: Epic (epic poetry)
-12 books, 10,000 lines of hexameter verse
-Epic poem in tradition of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey
-Great poem about Rome's earliest ancestor and how he came to be there
-Setting: ca. 1200 BC ( Bronze Age)
-Written in 30-19 BC (more than a millennium after events occurred)
-Battle of Actium brought civil wars to and end
-After Battle of Actium, peace returns (but slowly)
-So this work has an agenda
-AGENDA: to remind Romans of their great past, their promise for the future
and why they should all work together for a greater good
-Aeneas = son of Anchises and Venus, ancestor of Julius Caesar and
Augustus
-Coin depicting Aeneas with his father on his shoulders, and holding a
goddess
-Rome is not yet a city in 1200 BC, but Aeneas visits the future site of the city
and presents an offering
,-The story of a man who goes through terrible ordeals, has to overcome the
hatred of a goddess, find his way to Rome, and eventually Rome emerges as
a result of his heroic deeds
-This work depends on the works of Homer that preceded it
-Aeneid is in 2 halves
1) First 6 books
-Wanderings around the Mediterranean while trying to get home (similar to
Homer's Odyssey)
-These were most influential later (in the Renaissance)
2) Second 6 books
-War between natives of Latium and Trojan foreigners (similar to Homer's
Iliad)
-In ancient times, these last 6 books were the most popular
-It was relatable to them (civil wars and fighting for territory)
First 6 Books of Aeneid - correct answer ✔-Focus heavily on ill-fated love
affair between Aeneas (Trojan prince) and Dido (queen of Carthage)
-At this point Carthage is just being built
-Romans and Carthaginians are not at war yet
-Looked like Aeneas and Dido were going to fall in love, but this was not what
the gods wanted
-BOOK 1 - great storm at sea and arrival at Carthage
-BOOK 2 - Narrating the Fall of Troy all the way up to Dido's court
-BOOK 3 - Narrating travels to Dido's court
-BOOK 4 - Love story (Aeneas and Dido)
-BOOK 5 - Funeral games (for Aeneas' father who died while he was away in
Carthage)
-BOOK 6 - Trip to the underworld
,Last 6 Books of Aeneid - correct answer ✔-BOOK 7 - outbreak of war
-BOOK 8 - Aeneas at the future site of Rome
-Book 12 - End of war, personal combat
Overarching Themes of Whole Work - correct answer ✔(1) FATE
-What we would call FATE, but what Romans would call will of JUPITER
-FATE = JUPITER
-Jupiter is fate
-Jupiter wants Aeneas to get to Italy to found Roman race
(2) COUNTER-FATE
-COUNTER-FATE (JUNO)
-Juno and Jupiter do not get along very well (this is one of reasons that Juno
is ****ing with Jupiter and Aeneas)
-Also, Juno is the patron goddess of Carthage so wants him to fail
-Ultimately, Jupiter wins because he is stronger god
-By Book 12, Juno bows out and admits defeat
(3) COMMUNAL GOOD
-Aeneas is not allowed to put his personal feelings first
-He is not allowed to stay with Dido, and he is not allowed to die heroically
defending his city
-He has to put his own personal interests aside and work for the good of the
Roman people (as Jupiter wants)
-Aeneas keeps forgetting this
, For good of Roman people (communal good) he cannot yield to his own
personal interests
-RELEVANCE: This lesson is applicable in the environment following Battle of
Actium
(4) TRADITIONAL ROMAN VALUES
-This is needed to uphold communal good
-Aeneas is described as pious throughout the work (by acting in this way he is
able to maintain the favour of the gods)
-Penates - Aeneas brings his household gods with him from Troy on his
journey (this is depicted in frieze)
(5) SEEKER OF PEACE
-Although Aeneas is a great warrior, he wants peace
-He is willing to do almost anything to secure peace
-He is willing to make treaties with the people that live in Italy
-He is willing to have peaceful relations with Carthaginians
-He is willing to do this even despite the horrors that he has lived through
-RELEVANCE: This is supposed to remind us of Augustus who is putting
aside horrors of the past and bringing peace to the Roman people (Ara Pacas
depicts Aeneas)
(6) ROMAN IDENTITY
-The book is looking back at the past and making arguments for why th
Vergil - correct answer ✔-70-19 BC
-Author of Aeneid