Achilles Vs Aeneas

Aeneas, the titular hero of Virgil’s Aeneid, is the flawed Trojan hero sent on a divine quest to found the new Troy and establish the basis for the Roman Empire. Along this journey, he is pushed to his limits both mentally and physically. This strain shows him to be a deeply Roman hero, especially in the values that come forward in his actions and response to tragedy. He embodies two major Roman values: pietas and respect for family, both past and future.

Anger can always incite irrational actions. The sight of Helen seeking shelter at the altar, causes Aeneas to remember the crimes she committed driving him to furious anger. This anger drives him to contemplate an ignoble and uncharacteristic act of revenge by murdering Helen as she sought protection from the gods. Despite being depicted as a virtuous hero, Aeneas’ strong, visceral reaction to seeing Helen shows that he is subject to the same passionate feelings all humans feel, especially when something raises his anger.

Achilles, on the other hand, can almost be fully comprehended from his initial disagreement with Agamemnon. Agamemnon's unreasonable actions seem to justify Achilles' refusal to engage his men in battle, primarily, because his pride will not allow him to act. Achilles believes himself to be the most important man in the army and the injury cannot be forgiven. Even when a diplomatic escape is contrived by Agamemnon, Achilles sees his position as unchanged-doubtlessly, Odysseus would have relented but Achilles is unable to forget past grievances.

Achilles then proceeds to urge the rest of the Greeks to sail home and abandon the war in Troy. Although this seems to imply that Achilles has given up his youthful brashness, he also mercilessly insults Agamemnon in the same book. His refusal to let go of his anger and his concern for his own future indicate a more adolescent or young adult viewpoint, rather than his previous childishness.

A description of Achilles’s rage in Homer’s The Iliad is shown when Odysseus says to Agamemnon,

In the Greek society, Achilles has the role of the aggressive soldier. From the very first lines of the epic, we are introduced to Achilles’ murderous rage:

Both Livy and Aeneas constructed masterworks of literature that would be read by man for over two millennia. What these two authors composed would shape and construct what it truly meant to be Roman, not only to those living during the era, but to those living in the far future as well. The straight facts about past kings by Livy, and the telling tale of an epic hero named Aeneas by Virgil both portrayed the importance of pietas and military fortitude. On the one hand, there is pietas; now seen as one of the highest virtues of ancient Romans, a value that signifies respect and duty to the gods, family, and country above thyself. While military fortitude, or the act of being courageous in spite of the pain or harm that may ensue, was another theme that Livy and Virgil both interacted with that would change how Romans are viewed forever.

In Homer’s “The Iliad”, we come across Achilles and Hector. Both characters are seen as brave soldiers of great honor, yet they have very different opposing traits. Hector is a compassionate man, who would do anything possible to fight for his family. While Achilles on the other hand, though he can be compassionate, he is also a man of immense pride who can be selfish and would do anything to protect his honor, even at the cost of others demise or destruction “…Achilles’ rage, Black and murderous, that cost the Greeks Incalculable pain…” (Homer 5). Achilles is more of a loner, only thinks of himself when making decisions, hence hurting people. However, they both have shown other sides to their personality that we are not familiar with like

Aeneas, the central figure in the Aeneid, personifies the Roman value of pietas. Pietas is one’s “respect for the gods, and dedication to both one’s family and community” (Lecture 10/20/17). Therefore, Aeneas starts the Aeneid very much unlike the traditional Homeric hero and as a consequence, unlike Achilles. In fact, the Aeneas closely resembles the Trojan prince Hector, the defender of Troy in the Iliad. He characterizes each of the qualities of pietas in his escape from Troy. During his escape, he states “take into your hands, Father, the sacred gods / of our country” because “it would be a sacrilege” if Aeneas had with his bloodied hands (Aen. 2.844 - 845) Aeneas is

     A comparison between Virgil's hero, Aeneas, and the Homeric heroes, Achilles and Odysseus, brings up the question concerning the relevance of the difference between the Homeric heroes and Aeneas. The differences in the poets' concerns are explained by the fact that Virgil lived many years after Homer, giving Virgil the advantage of a more developed literary and philosophical society than Homer had at his disposal. But the question remains: how are the differences between the Homeric heroes and Aeneas relevant to the epic at large? This question will be answered by first pointing out the differences between Greek and Roman society, then explaining

Achilles is the son of Peleus, who is the king of Myrmidon. He was the fearless, striking, and a substantial warrior of the army of Agamemnon in the Trojan war. In Greek mythology, Achilles is notorious for having a preference between a long and peaceful life, or a quick life that will guide him to eternal glory. He states that, “There are no covenants between sheep and wolves, nor between you and me” (Achilles). Achilles had a desire for glory, when it came to the battlefield, but he was fierce and short tempered when it came to Agamemnon. He had superhuman strength, that brought out a sign of worry for the individuals that were on his team. He possessed resistance to injury due to his semi saintly birth.

The Iliad: Book I, is about the conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon in the beginning of the Trojan War. It shows how vigorous Achilles’ rage was and that he is no one to mess with. The book states “Peleus’ son Achilles, murderous, doomed”. This shows his fury in just a few words. Achilles was a Greek hero who was the son of a Goddess named Thetis. He was an incredible solder; brave, violent and godlike. However, Agamemnon was the commander of the Achaean Army. He was greedy, aggressive and selfish. He was described as “the most grasping man alive”. He absolutely hated Achilles. I feel that he was jealous of how respected Achilles was among the ranks in the army because of his superior skills in the field of battle. Agamemnon claimed Chryseis as his prize, after sacking a Trojan town. Chryseis was a daughter of a Priest of Apollo, Chryses. He offered an enormous ransom to get his daughter back. At first Agamemnon didn’t want it but the people round him persuaded him that it would be best to let her go so they could be released from the plague that Apollo put on them. Agamemnon then poised to Achilles that he is going to steal Achilles prize, Briseis. This is when Achilles’ rage shows at its best. He nearly draws his sword to kill Agamemnon but he is stopped by the goddess, Athena.

Aeneas is a person who holds his family and friends close to his heart, but doesn’t show care to people who he feels have done acts that harm his loved ones. Test of character that confront him are losing people that he loved to death, having to enter the Underworld, leaving Dido for his fate to travel to Italy, and facing Turnus in battle after Turnus killed Pallas. Aeneas passes all of test he is given with minor setbacks, like being able to leave the Underworld alive, but he carries the mourning of the deaths of his loved one through the entire myth. The temptations he resists are staying with Dido in Carthage, and letting the death of people he cared for stop him from his journey. Aeneas resist staying with Dido because his fears what the gods would do if he didn’t leave Carthage for Italy. He doesn’t let the death of loved ones stop his journey, because most of them wanted Aeneas to continue his journey and reach his destiny. Aeneas find the task of killing Turnus out of revenge for Pallas’s death irresistible, since Pallas was Aeneas’s friend and seeing Turnus with Pallas’s belt filled Aeneas with rage.

Similarly, Aeneas is not blood thirsty and violent like Achilles. Instead, when Troy falls apart, Aeneas is hurt and disappointed, “In my mind a fire is burning; anger spurs me to avenge my fallen land, to exact the debt of crime.” However, he controls his urge to “satisfy the ashes of his people” and continues

This decision of prideful betrayal brings many casualties to the Achaean army. Once Agamemnon apologetically offers Achilles many valuable gifts along with the return of his war prize, Achilles refuses. In this rejection, Achilles is putting his own animosity toward Agamemnon above the needs of his fellow Achaeans. His friend Phoenix tells him to think of his diminishing honor, but Achilles answers, “…what do I need with honor such as that ?/ … It degrades you to curry favor with [Agamemnon],/ and I will hate you for it, I who love you./ It does you proud to stand by me, my friend,/ to attack the man who attacks me…”(p 147). Not only does Achilles reject honor, but he egotistically asks his father figure, Phoenix, to give up his in order to take his side.