The Aeneid Is A Latin Epic Poem Written By Virgil

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 both books, the reader is exposed to multiple battles in the name of achieving and regaining honor. The notion that one should try to escape death did not mean anything close to honor and glory. In the Iliad, it can be said that the whole battle started on a basis of destroyed honor. Helen being stolen was a jab at Menelaus’ honor and to regain it, he would have to fight to destroy the person that tested him no matter how many people died. Another example in the Iliad is in book one, which also coincidentally carries on throughout the whole story when Achilles is dishonored by Agamemnon’s promise to take away Briseis to which Achilles replies, “ ...should give me honor-- but now he gives me nothing… he disgraces me”. She gave him something to show that he had won honor in battle. Due to the disgrace Achilles, prays for the downfall of his comrades till they give him the honor he deserves, even though he knows his fate will be death if he stays on battle, as long as it is with honor it is acceptable. Similarly, honor in the Odyssey was just as great and damning. In both novels it seems as though the only way one could atone for the greatest dishonorment ( stealing one’s woman) is through death as we saw with Paris and Menelaus and now with all the suitors who had lay waste in Odysseus’ home. But a more specific example that showed the importance of honor would be in book

Regardless of the time frame, Virgil’s Aeneid and Homer’s epic the Iliad share both a copious amount of similarities and differences. For example, many common themes such as heroism, fate, and destiny are apparent in both works. Within the Aeneid and the Iliad, it is seen that the wars going on during that time were glorious that is why the role of gods were significant in leading both Aeneas and Achilles and influencing fate. In both texts, it is clear from the beginning that the role of the gods is to make Aeneas and Achilles fulfill their journey The Iliad focuses on the end of the Trojan War and the damaging power, while the Aeneid is focused during the aftermath of the war and underlies the foundation for the new civilization. This paper will address and argue the comparison of the role of gods and how each of the authors representation of the gods have influence on the lives of mortals.

     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

Virgil’s Aeneid was written in a time of political and social transition in Rome, which influenced the epic poem in a political way. Aeneid was written only a couple years after the civil war where a lot of people had started to lose faith in the greatness of Rome. Virgil’s intensely political poem concentrates on the theme of Rome’s greatness and particularly with the reign of the new emperor Augustus Caesar as the re-founder of glorious Rome. Throughout the poem Virgil used prophecies to make connections between the founding of the settlement (later to be Rome) by Aeneas and Rome’s culminating point with Augustus, who, according to Virgil, descends from Aeneas. Virgil uses this poem as propaganda for the new emperor by creating a parallelism between Aeneas, destiny, and Augustus at the same time that it uses a hidden ironic critique of the new regime.

Both the Odyssey and the Aeneid represent their cultures very well, but they express different ideas on what one should strive for in life.  There are also different forces that pushed both epics to be written.  The Aeneid expresses the Roman idea of pietas which means to show extreme respect for one’s ancestors. We see this in Aeneas when he is pictured caring his father away from burning Troy.  He has pietas because he cared so much for his father that in fleeing from Troy he took up his father over his shoulder to save his from certain death.  This is not the only major idea in the Aeneid.  There is also a very political focus.  The Roman were very interested in politics which comes through in the Aeneid. The Odyssey has the Greek

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.

The Iliad is a book full of poems that talk about the history of Trojans and Greeks. Within the Iliad, there is a strong urge to show a world in which was are tremendous and the gods have direct hand in human events and these deities influence fate. The two leading gods, Achillies and Aeneas, the reader can see the ways in which these two cultural problems entwine and try to create an image of the ancient world which is at once barbarously real in terms of the depiction of not just the glory, but also the horrors of war which are filled with supernatural and mystical figures called the gods.

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 Aeneid, written by Virgil, was written in Rome between 30 and 19 B.C. Virgil wrote many of his writings during the time of Octavian, the estranged nephew to Caeser. During the beginning of the times of Octavian and the time of these writings Rome was in a state of civil war, which later turned into the most peaceful place in the world. Many people were torn from their homes and new boundaries were created. It is important to know the culture and gender roles of the people, the person in power, and the system of government in place at the time of the writing.

     The final symbolism apparent in both poems is the image of the shield. In both poems, the primary hero is given a shield made by a god to protection them in battle. In The Aeneid, Aeneas is given a shield made by Vulcan. The shield tells the future of Rome. Shown are all the victories of war and the height that Rome will achieve. Much like Aeneas, Achilles is given a shield made by the Greek god Hephaestus. The shield, unlike Aeneas’s, does not show the height of the Achaeans, but it shows the life of Achaeans beyond the battles.

  The Aeneid is a poem of Fate, which acts as an ever-present determinant, and as such Aeneas is entirely in the hands of destiny. The unerring and inexorable passage of fate, assisted by the Gods' intervention, is impossible to prevent and its path does create many victims along the way, who are expendable for Rome to be created. In the Aeneid, mortals suffer, no matter what they do or how good a life they lead and they are unable to rely on the Gods for assistance. However, the Odyssey is a poem of morality, where the good are exulted and the bad are punished ("The blessed gods don't like wicked acts. Justice and fair play are what they respect" O.14.84). It

Homer used pride as the tragic flaw that Achilles learned to overcome, whereas Virgil used a sense of duty as Aeneas’s tragic flaw. Homer portrayed Achilles as arrogant because he allowed his men to fight a battle he knew they could not win without him. Achilles asked his mother for Zeus to favor the Trojans so that he could regain the honor that he felt Agamemnon stripped away. Aeneas’s tragic flaw unlike Achilles was his sense of duty, which in turn he encountered pitfalls during his escape from Troy. Achilles battled for personal glory and his own honor as a warrior whereas Aeneas spent his time attempting to fulfill his mission, which forced him to invade and conquer, a duty given to him by the gods. “Virgil unites and conjoins all the virtues in the formation of his hero: He gives him religion towards the gods, piety towards his country, tenderness and friendship towards his relations, and equity and justice towards all” (Rapin). On the contrary, Homer magnified the tragic flaw in Achilles, which cost him his sanity because he became obsessive with revenge. Although Aeneas’s flaw appears minor in comparison to Achilles, it led him to be an instrument of gods, which in turn destroyed innocent lives. Mercury appeared to Aeneas to remind him of his mission and told him, “Oblivious of your own world, your own kingdom…He [Zeus] and no other sent me to you…Think of the

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.