The Odyssey And Aeneid Vs. Today

In ancient Greek beliefs people were also judged when they were down in the underworld. At the dividing road between Tartarus, a place of torture in the underworld and the Isles of the Blest, a place for the good in the underworld, there are the Plains of Judgment. Awaiting the souls in the Plain of Judgment are Aeacus, Minos, and Rhadamanthys. These dead men, judge who goes to Tartarus, who goes to the Isles of the Blest or back to the Asphodel Fields if they were neither good or evil. These men were all sons of Zeus who were rewarded as judges in the underworld by creating the first just laws on Earth. Aeacus was king of Aegina during mortal life and was also known for making decisions for Zeus. After his death he became keeper of the keys of Hades and the judge of men of Europe in the Underworld. Minos was the King of Crete, and Rhadamanthys was his brother. They both lived in Asia during their mortal lives. After his death, Rhadamanthys became lord of the Isles of the Blest, and judge of the men of Asia. After Minos died he gained the responsibility of having the final judgment. In The Odyssey, Odysseus says " And now there came before my eyes Minos, the son of Zeus, enthroned, holding a golden staff, dealing out justice among ghostly pleaders arrayed about the broad doorways of Death.". (XI. 640) The Greeks believed Minos had a lot of power in the underworld. In Roman beliefs Rhadamanthus had control over the punishments people

Both the Odyssey and the Aeneid describe the journeys of the two Greek heroes –Odysseus and Aeneas, as they struggle towards their goal through the crises and deadly situations caused by the wrath of the gods upon them. In the Odyssey, we see that Poseidon (god of the sea/earth shaker) has a grudge against Odysseus while Athena, god of wisdom, aids him throughout his journey. Similarly in the Aeneid, we see that goddess Juno dislikes Aeneas as he is destined to destroy the city of Carthage loved by Juno during his mission to find a new land- Rome, whereas Aeneas’ mother Venus aids him.

There are many similarities between Dante’s The Inferno and Virgil’s The Aeneid, be it their characterizations or descriptive imagery, but foremost in their ideas of what the afterlife consisted of. Each each epic hero in the works here have descended in to the depths of hell, with The Inferno depicting Dante’s descent into the depths of hell and with Virgil in Book VI of The Aeneid depicting Aeneas’s decent into hell. It can be argued that although different, the knowledge acquired by each character’s descent was equally important to accomplishing their greater tasks at the ends of their journey. Had their descent into hell been skipped their outcomes would have concluded in a different way because their voyages to Hell each played a crucial role in the advancing each narrative.

Many years after the end of the Trojan War, Odysseus still hasn’t returned home to Ithaka. Many believe that he is dead, but the author lets us know that he is being held as a sex captive on the goddess Kalypso’s island. Kalypso has no plans of letting him go to return home either.

Focus on the descriptions of the palaces of Nestor and Menelaus. Find quotations that describe their virtues:

Mythology explains spiders through the store of Athena and Arachne. In her younger years, Athena was never kind to women. She once challenged Arachne to a weaving contest to show that she is better than her and others. Athena was impressed of Arachne but was jealous. In turn, Athena turned her into a spider so they she would weave forever. Today, spiders are arachnids after Arachne the spider.

     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

In the Hebrew Bible and The Odyssey there are heroic figures that play an important role through out each of the books. These heroic figures from the Bible and The Odyssey have many similarities and differences that reflect the different cultures they are from. These heroes are called upon by greater beings, such as gods, to complete difficult journeys and or tasks that the god has made them destined to complete. Each of these legendary heroes demonstrates a particular culture’s needs. Through these journeys and or tasks they are forced to overcome challenging obstacles and make sacrifices.

Sing I me, Muse, and through me tell the story of the lady nymph goddess Calypso. Oh so beautiful and immortal who lives in the sea- hollowed caves on the island Ogygia. She craved the hero of Troy, king of Ithaka, son of Laertes, a mortal and took him as her own. Nine long years they spent on the island together.

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

the gods; while he was fleeing from the Cyclops he yelled "If I could take

Long ago, there were two powerful nations located in southern Europe. First there were the Greeks, this nation was known for the first practice of democracy. Other than democracy, during the Greeks era there was a man by the name Homer who wrote a story called The Odyssey about a great legendary hero named Odysseus. After the Greeks, then came the Romans who ruled Greece for centuries. The Romans during their time were known to have practiced and used many of the Greeks cultures and theories. There was a Roman named Virgil who wrote about the beginning of the Romans. He created a story called The Aeneid; this story was about a Trojan who escaped a losing war to find a new home and peace. Even though these two stories may be hard to understand, Homer and Virgil are making statements about their nation after the Trojan War, because Odysseus was a legendary Greek king and Aeneas of Troy was known to be a beginning of the Romans.

The Iliad and the Odyssey are two classic stories told by Homer. Within these two stories the roles of the gods are very important to the story line and how they affect the characters throughout. In the Iliad, more gods are involved with the characters whereas in the Odyssey there are only two major gods that affect two major characters. The roles of the gods in the Iliad are through two different stances of immortal versus immortal and mortal versus immortal. The roles of the gods in the Odyssey are through two major gods and they affect the plot as Poseidon versus Odysseus and Athena versus Telemachus.

“The ancient Greeks were a deeply religious people. They worshipped many gods whom they believed appeared in human form and yet were endowed with superhuman strength and ageless beauty. The Iliad and the Odyssey, our earliest surviving examples of Greek literature, record men 's interactions with various gods and goddesses whose characters and appearances underwent little change in the centuries that followed. The Greeks attributed these epic narratives to Homer, a poet living at the end of the 8th century BC Each Greek city was normally under the protection of one or more individual deities who were worshipped with special emphasis, as, for example, Athens and the goddess Athena. While many sanctuaries honored more than a single god, usually one deity such as Zeus at Olympia or a closely linked pair of deities like Demeter and her daughter Persephone at Eleusis dominated the cult place. Elsewhere in the arts, various painted scenes on vases, and stone, terracotta and bronze sculptures portray the major gods and goddesses. The deities are depicted either by themselves or in traditional mythological situations in which they interact with humans and a broad range of minor deities, demi-gods and legendary characters” (Penn 2002).

The Greek Underworld compares to my idea of the afterlife where the place of "everlasting torment" is hell while a place of blessedness called the Elysian Fields is heaven. Erebus, where the dead pass as soon as they die, reminds me of purgatory. To me, purgatory is like a waiting room where God chooses if you go to heaven or hell. I don 't believe that there is a three head dog guarding purgatory.