Aeneid
Ekphrasis:
- Sculpture on Carthagians temple to Juno (retells stories of Trojans wars and Aeneas
sees it and it calms his fears)
- Sculpture on temple to Apollo at Cumae (story of Daedalus and Icarus – Deadlus
cannot finish as in grief)
- Aeneas shield
- Sword belt of Pallas (50 wives murder husbands on their wedding night – Turnus will
die trying to get a wife)
Virgils Goals with Aeneid:
- Providing rome with an epic rivalry homer
- Exploring extreme human emotions
- Criticism of the gods (proem)
- Promoting rome/augustus
Promoting Rome:
- Pallanteum (city of Evander) = on the site of the future Rome
o Aetiology for Palentine hills
o ^ Augustus house and temple of apollo (Aeneas promised book 6)
- Virgil portrays all nations well to show how good rome is:
o Catalog of troops - étruscan and Rutilian army - come together to produce the
Roman people, starting with the marriage of Lavinia and Aeneas.
o Evanders people The people share the traditional Roman values which
Augustus is trying to promote (ara maxima)
o Carthage presented as fierce and dangerois and rome defeats in punic (more
impressive)
- Aetiology of places: Palinurus – Cape Palinuro (Neptune Venus deal one must die – A
sees in underworld)
- Virgils home town – Mantua (an apostrophe to the place) book 10 during Etruscan
catalog
- 7 year journey, 7 ships, 7 kings of rome, 7 hills of rome
- Marcelllo (augustus nephew) book 6 – died young, if allowed to live would have been
too great
- Greater marcello – won spolio opima
- Augsutus in pageant compared to Heracles and Bacchus
o Cacus & H (Mark Anthony vs A) - augustus removes barbarism
o B & H travelled far meaning augustus will conquer far)
- Portrayal of war and bervemant of parents = pacifism
, - Peace – Gates of war book 1: janus temple – a closed 3 times implying Augustus gave
forever peace from civil wars
- Assimiliation of Augustus and Aeneas’ characterd
o Pacifism ^^
o Augustus given shield by senate as part of his triple triumph
o Dido reminds cleopathra (suicide)
o Palllas and marcellus – young men who died before fufulling his potential
- lulus gives his name to the Julian clan, and therefore forms a linguistic if not genetic
link between Augustus, the adopted great-nephew of Julius Caesar, and Aeneas.
- This link forms the strong continuity between the Emperor and his divine origins.
Fate & role of Aeneas
- Fate – how Virgil celebrates Rome
- 1: Jupiter’s prophecy - 3 Aeneas, 30 Ascanius founds alba longa, 300 Alban kings then
Romulus founds Rome
- 6: pageant of Roman heroes: includes alban kings, Romulus, ceaser, augustus,
marcellus won spoilia opima
- 8: Vulcan’s shield:
o She-wolf Romulus and Remus
o Rape of sabine women
o Punishment of Mettus (alban dictator torn in two)
o Estrucan attack on rome
o Attack of the gauls
o MIDDLE: battle of Actium and triple triumph
- Ascanius head on fire in book 2 highlights how important he will be
- Tiber tells A where he finds 30 white piglets – that is where Ascanius will found alba
longa (site Evander)
- The proem tells us that Aeneas is driven on by Fate to reach Italy, and that his arrival
will mark 'the beginning of the Latin race’
- Book 7: When A arrives he sees tables and starts building his city.
- fate - shows the piety of Aeneas.
o His actions from when he leaves Troy are declared by fate
o Creusa instructs him to go West (To Hesperia until find Libyan Tybris)
o In a dream Hector gives him his penates (gods) to carry with him to Italy.
o His mission is interlinked with fate and any divergence from this causes divine
intervention, such as his visits from Mercury when he stayed on Carthage for
too long with Dido. Mercury instructs him that his fate, and especially
Ascanius', lies elsewhere in Rome and the fact that Aeneas ends up following
what the Gods want no matter what his feelings are for Dido (Queen of
Carthage) underline his piety, a trait which the scholar Mackie says is central
to his character.
o His piety leads him to follow fate, which creates the whole foundation for the
Epic.
Ekphrasis:
- Sculpture on Carthagians temple to Juno (retells stories of Trojans wars and Aeneas
sees it and it calms his fears)
- Sculpture on temple to Apollo at Cumae (story of Daedalus and Icarus – Deadlus
cannot finish as in grief)
- Aeneas shield
- Sword belt of Pallas (50 wives murder husbands on their wedding night – Turnus will
die trying to get a wife)
Virgils Goals with Aeneid:
- Providing rome with an epic rivalry homer
- Exploring extreme human emotions
- Criticism of the gods (proem)
- Promoting rome/augustus
Promoting Rome:
- Pallanteum (city of Evander) = on the site of the future Rome
o Aetiology for Palentine hills
o ^ Augustus house and temple of apollo (Aeneas promised book 6)
- Virgil portrays all nations well to show how good rome is:
o Catalog of troops - étruscan and Rutilian army - come together to produce the
Roman people, starting with the marriage of Lavinia and Aeneas.
o Evanders people The people share the traditional Roman values which
Augustus is trying to promote (ara maxima)
o Carthage presented as fierce and dangerois and rome defeats in punic (more
impressive)
- Aetiology of places: Palinurus – Cape Palinuro (Neptune Venus deal one must die – A
sees in underworld)
- Virgils home town – Mantua (an apostrophe to the place) book 10 during Etruscan
catalog
- 7 year journey, 7 ships, 7 kings of rome, 7 hills of rome
- Marcelllo (augustus nephew) book 6 – died young, if allowed to live would have been
too great
- Greater marcello – won spolio opima
- Augsutus in pageant compared to Heracles and Bacchus
o Cacus & H (Mark Anthony vs A) - augustus removes barbarism
o B & H travelled far meaning augustus will conquer far)
- Portrayal of war and bervemant of parents = pacifism
, - Peace – Gates of war book 1: janus temple – a closed 3 times implying Augustus gave
forever peace from civil wars
- Assimiliation of Augustus and Aeneas’ characterd
o Pacifism ^^
o Augustus given shield by senate as part of his triple triumph
o Dido reminds cleopathra (suicide)
o Palllas and marcellus – young men who died before fufulling his potential
- lulus gives his name to the Julian clan, and therefore forms a linguistic if not genetic
link between Augustus, the adopted great-nephew of Julius Caesar, and Aeneas.
- This link forms the strong continuity between the Emperor and his divine origins.
Fate & role of Aeneas
- Fate – how Virgil celebrates Rome
- 1: Jupiter’s prophecy - 3 Aeneas, 30 Ascanius founds alba longa, 300 Alban kings then
Romulus founds Rome
- 6: pageant of Roman heroes: includes alban kings, Romulus, ceaser, augustus,
marcellus won spoilia opima
- 8: Vulcan’s shield:
o She-wolf Romulus and Remus
o Rape of sabine women
o Punishment of Mettus (alban dictator torn in two)
o Estrucan attack on rome
o Attack of the gauls
o MIDDLE: battle of Actium and triple triumph
- Ascanius head on fire in book 2 highlights how important he will be
- Tiber tells A where he finds 30 white piglets – that is where Ascanius will found alba
longa (site Evander)
- The proem tells us that Aeneas is driven on by Fate to reach Italy, and that his arrival
will mark 'the beginning of the Latin race’
- Book 7: When A arrives he sees tables and starts building his city.
- fate - shows the piety of Aeneas.
o His actions from when he leaves Troy are declared by fate
o Creusa instructs him to go West (To Hesperia until find Libyan Tybris)
o In a dream Hector gives him his penates (gods) to carry with him to Italy.
o His mission is interlinked with fate and any divergence from this causes divine
intervention, such as his visits from Mercury when he stayed on Carthage for
too long with Dido. Mercury instructs him that his fate, and especially
Ascanius', lies elsewhere in Rome and the fact that Aeneas ends up following
what the Gods want no matter what his feelings are for Dido (Queen of
Carthage) underline his piety, a trait which the scholar Mackie says is central
to his character.
o His piety leads him to follow fate, which creates the whole foundation for the
Epic.
