Virgil 's The Iliad And The Odyssey

Aeneas had to find a golden branch to enter Dis with the help of Sibyl, who guided him during his journey in the Underworld. Sibyl informs him that if the golden branch breaks off easily, then fate calls him to the Underworld. In the case of Odysseus, instructions were given to him by Circe to give offerings in order for him to gain access to the Underworld. Odysseus had to sacrifice two sheep, dig a trench, pour honey, milk, wine and water, and perform prayers as an offering. The Underworld was described differently in both books.

his purpose. Aeneas is then left with the duty of leaving Carthage and Dido behind, whereas Odysseus is more subject to each gods will. The idea of an inevitable and

Odysseus, the hero in The Odyssey, and Aeneas, the hero in The Aeneid, fought in opposing sides in the Trojan war. Odysseus was the king of Ithaca and was arguably the smartest king and warrior in all of Greece, whereas Aeneas was a warrior from Troy whose destiny was to found the Roman race in Italy. While both men were highly acclaimed by their respective countrymen as heroes, they shared many similarities in respect to their background, their virtue and their struggles. However, amidst these similarities Odysseus and Aeneas were very different in their social status, their innate disposition and in the defining characteristics of their quest.

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.

Homer’s “The Odyssey” takes place ten years after the events in “The Iliad”, to which the Odyssey is an indirect sequel, and the fall of Troy; even though the story is believed to have been composed some time during the eight century B.C.E. it is estimated to be set sometime between 1300 and 1000 B.C.E. in Mycenaean Greece during the Bronze age. In this novel all Greek heroes have returned home after the fall of Troy, except for Odysseus who after a three year journey has been held captive by the goddess Calypso, who has fallen in love with him, on her island, Ogygia. After the ten years have passed Odysseus is presumed dead, his wife Penelope is courted, and his estate is auctioned off by the Suitors, the young men of Ithaca who attempt to win Penelope’s favor and hand in marriage.

The stories of mythology involve numerous tales about the Gods and their interactions with humans and creatures alike that led to the unforeseen creations. In the tales of the Earliest Heroes, the materials are taken from a number of sources that vary from Greek/Roman poets to the Odyssey itself, and are then woven together to create a more static tale. The classic tale of Odysseus and the Cyclops display some of the more prevalent roles in Greek mythology. An intriguing aspect is that the first part of the story told in the book goes back to the Odyssey, though a thousand years separate the beginning from the end. This demonstrates the degrees of the course of Greek literature. Evidently, the tale focuses on the craftiness and valor of Odysseus for being able to escape the Cyclops that he encounters on his way home from the Trojan War. His ability to do so pertains to not only his brute strength but also his clever insight and thinking.When none of the men that accompany Odysseus are able to conjure a plan to escape

Governments come and go; religions rise and fall, but there is perhaps one thing that remains constant throughout the history of mankind: story-telling. It can be said that there is no better way to captivate and provoke the imagination of a person than being told the tale from the heart of a poet, whether it be romance, adventure or simply a story from experiences. And perhaps there are no better poets that are better able to drag their willing audience along a journey than Homer and Dante. The epic tales of The Odyssey and Inferno, respectively, were seemingly written along a parallel train of thought when describing their characters journey, easily engaging the creative functions of the reader with adventurous tales of hope and adventure. Their characters, Odysseus and Dante himself, reflect upon their like and equal struggles in the quest to return home and the help that they received along the way that helped them make the return possible.

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.

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 both The Odyssey and The Aeneid, the heroes are on separate journeys to ultimately find their home. Odysseus is returning after a long war, while Aeneas is seeking to establish Rome. Along the way, both men engage in various battles, but their responses to the conflicts they face show a clear separation in the way these great men think and behave. Odysseus is a head-strong, nearly reckless leader whose excessive pride, or hubris, gets his men involved in many scrapes that cost valuable lives. Such is the case in Odysseus’ dealings with Polyphemus, the Cyclops. His men insist that they load animals aboard the ship and flee to safety, away from the land of giants (Homer 9.241-246). Instead of following the advice of his crewmen, Odysseus admits, “Ah, / how sound that was! Yet I refused. I wished / to see the caveman, what he had to offer –” (9.247-249). Even though he knows that setting

In Greek mythology, one of the most important wars fought during the Bronze Age was the Trojan War. The Trojan War took place around the 12th or 11th Century BC. One of the largest impacts this war had was the inspiration it provided to many famous writers of antiquity, which include writers such as Homer, Virgil, Herodotus and many others. One of the most important writers during the Greek Dark Ages was Homer, who I believe was the most influential writer of his time, and a writer who had truly made an impact on the evolution of Greek Culture following the Dark Ages. Two of Homer’s most famous poems were the Iliad and the Odyssey, which were Ancient Greek epic poems which covered a couple of weeks during the Trojan War. Although there

The Odyssey by Homer and the Old Testaments: King James Version are two of the most read and most sophisticated pieces of literature that have transcended through generations. While they share similar qualities; both greatly differ as well, especially when it comes to the women characters. Classical historian and professor of classical studies at Wellesley College, Mary Lefkowitz, makes a significant contrast between these two famous writings. She believes that a major difference between the women of each story differ dramatically when it comes to their personality and actions. “[Although] the notion... that a man should be active and aggressive, a women passive and subjected to the control of the men in her family, are expressed in virtually every Greek myth, even the ones in which the women seek to gain control over their own live.…[so] that it is possible to show that the Greeks at least attributed to women a capacity for understanding that we do not alway find in the other great mythological tradition that has influenced Western thought, namely, the Old and New Testaments." (Women in Greek Myth, Mary Lefkowitz). I completely agree with Lefkowitz statement on these characters, it’s very clear that most of the women in the Old Testament are very flat while the Odyssey is full of well rounded characters especially when it comes to Jacob’s wife Rachel and Odysseus 's wife Penelope.

If one were only to view the journeys of Odysseus and Aeneas on a map they would find multiple similarities and many points of contact; the island of the Polyphemus, the Underworld, and the seas surrounding Sicily, to name a few. However, the characters of the men in question vary greatly. Both Odysseus and Aeneas

This short essay will identify five traditional epic characteristics that are evident in both the Iliad and the Odyssey.