The Roman Poets Of The Golden Age

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.

Ancient Rome produced a number of literary geniuses, which included Marcus Cicero, Horace, and Virgil. The following excerpt from The Humanistic Tradition describes one of Virgil’s most famous works, “The Aeneid was not the product of an oral tradition, as were the Homeric epics: rather, it is a literary epic . . . No summary of the Aeneid can represent the monumental impact of a work that would become the foundation for the education of the Latin language” (Fiero 146). Ancient Roman works such as The Aeneid have had a profound influence on countless writers, poets, and literary scholars including Shakespeare, James Joyce, and Robert Graves. These ancient civilizations also made a variety of other contributions to western civilization.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE PORTRAYAL OF THE GODS IN VIRGIL'S AENEID AND OVID'S METAMORPHOSES. There is a significant difference in the treatment of the gods in the Aeneid and the Metamorphoses, even though both authors were writing in the epic tradition. Virgil wrote his Aeneid in the last ten years of his life, between 29BC and 19BC, after the Battle of Actium, in 31BC, which was significant, as it established Octavian as the sole emperor, Augustus, of Rome. The Aeneid is a celebration of Augustus' achievements and rejoices in the development of Rome. There is a great sense of political propaganda, as well as an historical element, as it illustrates the origins of the Roman people.

Mathematics, philosophy, astronomy, and medicine are some of the significant contributions made by the Greeks, and they were also notorious for their cultivated architecture and sculptures. The Greek culture impacted the Roman Empire and several other civilizations; it remains to transform present-day cultures. The Han Dynasty is one of the most remarkable dynasties in Chinese history. This dynasty incorporated about four hundred years of development and strengthening; it coexisted with the duration of the Roman republic and the empire in the West. Momentous developments occurred in the Han Dynasty. Rome advanced form being one of the several city-states to being the core of the most magnificent empire in the world.

Virgil came to be regarded as one of Rome's greatest poets. His Aeneid can be considered a national epic of Rome and has been extremely popular from its publication to the present day.

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.

Virgil was also a writer. Horace and Virgil placed a new emphasis on nature. Like Aristotle, viewed both war and work as necessary means to achieve their opposites, peace and leisure. However Virgil expected that Roman victory in

Rome was experiencing a great deal of internal turmoil during the period when Virgil wrote the Aeneid. There was somewhat of an identity crisis in Rome as it had no definitive leader, or history. With the ascension of Augustus to the throne, Rome was unified again. Still, it had no great book. The Greeks had their Odyssey, giving them a sense of history and of continuity through time. A commonly held view is that the Aeneid attempts to provide the Romans with this sense of continuity or roots. There is a great deal of textual evidence to support this interpretation. Virgil makes numerous references to the greatness of Rome through "ancient" prophecies. Clearly, the entire poem is an account of

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.

Virgil is thought to have recited Books 2, 4 and 6 of the Aeneid to Augustus when the rest of the chronicle was still in progress. Book 2 contains more turmoil as Venus and Jupiter help Aeneas to reach Rome where he is met by the Etruscan children of Mars in the twins,

Aeneid by Vergil has long been an epic poem that established both how the Romans viewed themselves and how they viewed societies outside of them and their ancestors. However, Vergil used Aeneid for much more than just establishing history for the Roman people; Vergil used Aeneid as a political statement on the then current issues in Rome and the previous civil strife that Rome had experienced for many years. Vergil used Aeneid as a commentary on Rome’s politics, government, and civil strife.

In Virgil’s poem, The Aeneid, the ideal Roman hero is depicted in the form of Aeneas. Not only does Aeneas represent the Roman hero, but he also represents what every Roman citizen is called to be. Each Roman citizen must posses two major virtues, he must remain pious, and he must remain loyal to the Roman race. In the poem, Aeneas encompasses both of these virtues, and must deal with both the rewards and costs of them.

/ The roads resounded with joy, revelry, clapping hands" (Virgil, The Aeneid VIII 836-840). Virgil makes very clear Augustus' piety, prowess in battle, majesty and the love of the people. The shield is also a way of providing a link for Augustus to Aeneas and lineage to the gods as Venus was Aeneas' mother. This divine history provides more worship for Augustus and in places outside Rome he was even worshipped as a god himself (Haarhoff, T. J. The Element of Propaganda in Vergil pp125-138). Virgil’s propaganda extends not only in support of Augustus’ reign but also reinforces his

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.

Intro – Begin by talking about how people often see Aeneid by Virgil as focusing on the events surrounding the Trojan war, but an equally important part of the story is the prevalent theme of duty. For instance, if one looks at Aeneas one can see his devotion towards caring for his people, and his persistence to follow his duty. Because of the emphasize that Virgil places on Aeneas devotion to his people and his duty to obey the gods, one can begin to theorize that Virgil believed duty was the most important quality a man could possess. Thesis: Often times, the Aeneid carries the reputation as a book centering around the founding of Rome, however, without the constant reminder of duty, one cannot fully view Virgil’s story as he intended.