The Aeneid Essay

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.

In Homer’s epic, the Iliad, the legendary, has no two characters that are so similar yet so different as Greek warrior, Achilles, and the Prince of Troy, Hector. Achilles is the strongest fighter in the Greek side, and Hector is the strongest Trojan. They are both put into the mold of a hero that their respective societies have put them into; however; it is evident that they are both extremely complex characters with different roles within their society and with their families, and with the gods.

In Homer's epic, The Iliad, there are many great characters, both mortal and immortal. However, no characters seem to match the greatness and importance of Achilles, the mightiest of the Greeks and Hector, Trojan prince and mightiest of the Trojans. Although they are the mightiest of their forces, their attitudes and motives for the Greek-Trojan war are completely different.

While the ending of The Aeneid might be seen to have multiple significances, I believe that Virgil ended the poem the way he did to make a statement about the use of power to achieve dominance and rulership: namely, that a lust for nothing but power will ultimately consume. The poem ends with Turnus and Aeneas facing each other one-on-one on the battlefield. However, it should be noted that there are fundamental differences between the philosophies of the two combatants which should first be grasped to fully understand the significance of Aeneas’s actions in ending the war. Before the battle between Aeneas and Turnus begins, the reader gets a glimpse of Turnus’s philosophy regarding the stakes of the battle. “Either I’ll send, with my hand, this deserter of Asia, this Dardan, / Down to the Pit of the Damned—and the Latins can sit down and watch while / My lone sword is refuting the charge of dishonor we all share; / Or you [Latinus] must share my defeat. And Lavinia must go as this man’s wife.” (12.14-17) Turnus believes that in war, there is no possible outcome but for one leader and his entire army to be wiped out in the other side’s pursuit of honor and glory. Aeneas’s views on the battle are displayed earlier in the poem, when he journeys down into the underworld and is instructed in Trojan battle philosophy by his deceased father Anchises. “You, who are Roman, recall how to govern mankind with your power. / That will be your special ‘Arts’: the enforcement of peace as

The Aeneid, the famous epic poem written by Virgil, depicts the struggle of establishing an empire. The beginning of The Aeneid introduces Aeneas, son of the goddess Venus, whose fate is to find a new home in Italy after the fall of Troy. Throughout the perilous journey, Aeneas faces great obstacles as he strives to fulfill his prophecy and gradually transform into the ideal Virgilian hero. To emphasize his growth, I will discuss three themes in this essay: the extent of free will as it relates to fate, the influence of divine beings on mortals, and the principles of morality. All of these ideas serve as an understanding as to why Aeneas is unable to act on his own accord. This leads me to defend the view that humans require the positive guidance of a mentor figure to resist their self-indulgence.

    Homer's Iliad enthralls readers with its’ valiant heroes who fight for the glory of Greece. The Iliad, however, is not just a story of war; it is also a story of individuals. Through the characters' words and actions, Homer paints portraits of petulant Achilles and vain Agamemnon, doomed Paris and Helen, loyal Patroclus, tragic Priam, versatile Odysseus, and the whole cast of Gods. Ironically, the most complete character in the epic is Hector, enemy hero, and Prince of Troy. Hector is in many ways the ideal Homeric man: he is a man of compassion and piety, a man of integrity and bravery, a man who loves his family, and above all, a man who understands and fulfills his social

Achilles, the demigod son of a sea nymph named Thetis and king Peleus of the Myrmidons, is the central representation of a Homeric hero in Homer’s Iliad. His raging power is a source of awe for men on both sides of The Trojan War. In continuation of the Trojan narrative, Aeneid follows the wanderings of the Trojan prince Aeneas. His fate is to establish the Trojan Remnant in Latium, the birthplace of The Roman Empire, Aeneas faces an endless stream of challenges in his journeys. A significant obstacle is Turnus. Turnus, described by the Sybil as a “second Achilles,” proves to be incredibly like the Homeric hero. Virgil transforms Aeneas from a figure of pietas to one of furor similar to that of Turnus and Achilles. However, Aeneas never truly reaches the inhuman rage witnessed in these other two warriors.

With Vergil changing the myth from Anna to Dido in the Aeneid, he sets up a story of two main characters with similar life-stories despite their gender. Using Dido as Aeneas’s lover, Vergil depicts them mirroring each other while also being pawns for the dispute between Venus and Juno, ensuring fate is followed.

Publius Vergilius Maro was born on October 15th, 70 BC on his father’s farm, in Cisalpine Gaul, where he spent most of his younger years. Because his father was a farmer and due to growing up on a farm, Virgil loved the vast countryside and preferred in greatly over the chaotic city. It is said that his life in, and love of the country certainly influenced, and made appearances in his writing. In addition this, the series of great wars that started in Rome when he was around the age of 20 also had a great impact on his writing.

When comparing “The Aeneid” to “The Odyssey”, it is impossible not to notice the similarity between Homer and Virgil 's poems. Both heroes leave Troy, granted one barely escapes and the other leaves victoriously, and both in one sense or the other are trying to reach their home, whether it is the old or future home. The adventures of the two heroes are incredibly similar on a number of accounts with the trip to the underworld being most intriguing.

The epic poem The Aeneid, by Vergil adapts scenes, similes, and characters from the Odyssey written by Homer. The works of both authors include the simile of Artemis/Diana. Other characters do overlap in some of Vergil's scenes for instance, Aeneas and Odysseus encounter Cyclops. Both authors also reference the scene of the underworld. Although, Virgil adapts similarities from Homer's epic, each encounter has noticeable comparisons and/or differences. Vergil presents the epic of the Aeneid with a different purpose. At the beginning of the Aeneid, Aeneas leaves his home with other Romans after the Trojan War. Homer starts his epic with Odysseus wanting to return home form Troy.  The motives that guide each character differ from one another. Homers the Odyssey is more of the journey of a man longing to be home again, after the trojan war has ended. His actions are somewhat selfish at times. Virgil's main character Aeneas is driven by more of a scene of duty to the gods, because he is instructed to help build Rome for future generations.

In Virgil’s “The Aeneid” and Homer’s “The Iliad” two men start catastrophic wars over one woman. “The Iliad” depicts two armies, the Greeks and the Trojans, who go to war over Menelaus’s kidnapped wife, Helen. Also in “The Iliad”, Achilles is having an altercation with Agamemnon over a maid Achilles won, who was taken from him. Achilles refuses to stand by his countrymen and fight the Trojans until she is returned to him. Meanwhile, in “The Aeneid”, Turnus goes to war with Aeneas over the loss of his bride Lavinia. The wars of each epic result in a great amount of bloodshed; bloodshed that each hero tried to prevent by

The protagonist of the Aeneid and known hero to many, Aeneas, was a man of many virtues. His courage and obedience towards the Roman gods are clearly shown all throughout the book, as well as his passion for justice. When he leaves his lover, Dido, at the bidding of the gods, he shows obedience even when it went against his own will. The time Aeneas travels into the underworld to find his deceased father, it shows great bravery. It is even seen by the example of the crew of Aeneas that he was an incredible person, judging by how loyal they were to him. But, even with all these wonderful attributes, Aeneas wasn’t the entirely heroic person we believe him to be.

Throughout the Aeneid, one of the consistent themes that is rampant throughout the book is the theme of pain and suffering. In each crevice of the epic poem, there are always mentions of the horrors and emotions that the characters have to go through. However, this theme of suffering throughout the book allows that characters to appear more human to the reader as it is not filled with unrealistic happiness, which allows the audience to empathise with the characters as they go through problems which are relatable. By having the theme of pain and suffering being a major part of the Aeneid's plot, with mention of Book XI in particular, we are able to relate the suffering Aeneas and other characters in this book have with our own suffering, which allows us to look at the characters in order to get a sense of what we can do to overcome pain and suffering when faced with adversity,

Virgil was Rome’s unwilling epic poet, he gave the Roman people a cohesive narrative that tied them to the past and propelled them towards the future. This narrative, The Aeneid, had its basis in local lore as well as ties to the older Greek epics of Homer. The Aeneid almost functions as an extension of The Iliad and Odyssey, with its protagonist, Aeneas, being a minor figure in the earlier poems, and the work itself academically divided into “Odyssean” and “Iliadic” parts. In this relationship Virgil owes a creative debt to Homer, and there is a resemblance that can be seen with striking clarity when the experiences of Homers’ Odysseus and Virgil’s Aeneas are examined side by side. Odysseus and Aeneas are both honour bound to reach the destinations of their respective journeys, Odysseus to rule Ithaca and Aeneas to found Rome, and while ones journey often mirrors the others, there are significant differences between the two. The major differences that can be observed lie in their characters and forms of heroism and these variations shape the course of their narratives, yet the similarities of their internal journeys and ultimate fates remain intact.