Ascanius

after his astounding victory at the Battle of Munda. Even though most prestigious generals would gladly accept the offer to rule this civilized republic, he did not. Not only is Julius Caesar a great general, but he has also claimed descent from Ascanius, King of Alba Longa; son of Trojan Prince Aeneas; son of Prince Anchises and goddess Venus. Julius Caesar, as he is most commonly known, had a moderately tough childhood just like any other civilian out there. When he was just sixteen years old

Conflicts abound throughout Virgil’s epic twelve book poem and they are part and parcel of a story that involves much more than the tragic, yet “romantic interlude” between Aeneas and Dido. The story is about death and rebirth, “…finding the origins of Rome in the destruction of Troy” (Puchner, 978) and the painful struggle within that rebirth which gives so much more meaning to the life that comes from it. “Wars and a man I sing- yet many blows he took on land and seas from the gods above and many

Virgil's Aeneid as Roman Propaganda   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

Venus, the goddess of love, has her other son Cupid fill Dido with passion for Aeneas, to ensure Aeneas's safety in this new land. "Meanwhile Venus/Plotted new stratagems, that Cupid, changed/ In form and feature, should appear instead/ Of young Ascanius, and by his gifts/ Inspire the queen to passion, with his fire/ Burning her very bones." (693) Venus did this to protect Aeneas and his son, in fear that Dido would have otherwise been cruel to them. As Aeneas tells his story he portrays himself

Throughout time beliefs have changed, advanced, and occasionally begun. This is very apparent with Roman and Greek Mythology. Roman Mythology and Greek Mythology have a pretty similar lineage. However, after the Greeks left their ideals in Italy, the Roman Empire worked a way to create their own identity branching off from the Greeks that came before them. Roman authors did this through identifying their own Roman god’s with those of the Greeks. As well they reinterpreted stories about Greek god’s

Venus, the goddess of love, has her other son Cupid fill Dido with passion for Aeneas, to ensure Aeneas's safety in this new land. "Meanwhile Venus/Plotted new stratagems, that Cupid, changed/ In form and feature, should appear instead/ Of young Ascanius, and by his gifts/ Inspire the queen to passion, with his fire/ Burning her very bones." (693) Venus did this to protect Aeneas and his son, in fear that Dido would have otherwise been cruel to them. As Aeneas tells his story he portrays

Vergil’s Aeneid, published in 19 BC, is well-known for being an immensely similar work to Homer’s Iliad - from its basic focus on a relatively minor Trojan character from the Iliad to its use of extensive allusions from the other work. Although the Aeneid can be viewed as a piece of propaganda aimed at an educated Roman audience, while the Iliad most likely did not have such a motivation behind its publication, modern readers can draw comparisons between the two to build an understanding of the differences

swift. He found Latium, ruled by King Latinus, and married his daughter, Lavinia. With King Latinus' permission, Aeneas and Lavinia founded a city called Lavinium, where they ruled side by side for many years. When Aeneas died, his son Ascanius took over. Ascanius founded a new city, which he called Alba Longa, and made it his capital. Now we advance four centuries. The king of Alba Longa is Numitor. He had a jealous brother named Amulius, who seized the throne and drove out Numitor. To prevent

gods. For example, his faith is reinforced when he sees the temple Dido built to honor Juno, "Here for the first time he took heart to hope, for safety, and to trust his destiny more, even in affliction." Aeneas “Each night thoughts come of young Ascanius, My dear boy wronged, defrauded of his kingdom, Hesperian lands of destiny. And now the gods' interpreter, sent by Jove himself—I swear it by your head and mine! With my very ears I drank his message in! So please, no more, of these appeals that

Fate is the essential idea of The Aeneid, but more importantly, the underlying force throughout the text. Fate cannot be changed; it is the set of events with the inevitable result. Virgil uses the idea of fate to narrate and advance through his epic poem, but perhaps also to illustrate that the gods had originally intended for Rome to become a great and powerful empire. The king of gods, Jupiter, has chosen Aeneas and his preordained path to destiny, by leading the Trojans and creating the foundations