Aeneid is a Roman epic written by Virgil, a Roman counterpart of Homer. Aeneas, son of Venus, the goddess of beauty, was a Trojan hero and a cousin of Hector’s, and like Hector he was a brave warrior.The story begins with the burning of Troy and the massacre of the men while the women and children were carried off into slavery.
Aeneas was saved by his mother, Venus, and together with his father Anchises and his son Ascanius and a few other Trojans, he sails away front the burning Troy. Their destination was Latium, where they intend to found a Trojan colony. But their ships were driven away from their course by Juno, who was angry with Aeneas.They landed in Carthage, in Northern Africa, where they were welcomed by Queen Dido. Significantly, he related to Dido how the Greeks conquered Troy with the ploy of a wooden horse.
The queen falls in love with Aeneas and makes him co-ruler of Carthage. But Aeneas has a great destiny—to be the founder of Rome—and much as he would like to stay with Dido, he was commanded by Jupiter to leave for Latium. Dido, broken-hearted, committed suicides as Aeneas sailed away.Aeneas passed through much danger in his adventures where he met Polyphemus (the one-eyed giant), his descent into the underworld, and the celebration of the funeral games to honor the anniversary of his father’s death.
In the underworld, there appeared to him the souls of future heroes of Rome.He reaches Latium and gains the friendship of king Latinus, the ruler of Latium. Oracles have foretold that the only daughter of the King, Lavinia, would marry a foreigner and become the mother of an imperial line. Aeneas had a rival for the hand of Lavinia in the brave and powerful Turnus.A battle ensued between the Trojans and the Latiums, and after many pitched encounters, Aeneas defeated Turnus in single combat and gained the hand of Lavinia. He became king, and in ceremonial rites required by the gods, a new nation was formed and the Trojans were named Latins (Dryden 2007).
The idea and plan of the Aeneid are derived from Homer’s Iliad. It actually picked up where the Iliad left off. The story of Iliad is largely a story of the plan to conquer Troy but it ends without giving the reader an idea whether Troy was actually conquered or not. The Aeneid provides this information by telling a story that Troy had indeed fallen in the hands of the Greeks.However, unlike Homer who chose a Greek hero as the main focus of the story, Virgil opted to make a story out of a Trojan prince (Aeneas).
It must be remembered that the Greeks had fallen to the Roman hands. The Romans had admired Greek culture and made it part of their own however they made some modifications to suit their own interests and that in spite of their Greek adaptation they were still able to maintain an image of superiority.The epic Aeneid is one example of this scenario wherein a supposed defeated Trojans of the Iliad was made a hero and founder of Rome. In essence, Virgil was purposely stating that they were much more superior than the Greeks for in the end they were the victors.Another example of modification is that although some of the characters present in Iliad were mentioned in Aeneid, like Hector and Achilles, the names of the gods and goddesses were altered. In Iliad, the king of the gods was Zeus, in Aeneid he was Jupiter, Zeus wife was Hera, in Aeneid she was Juno, in Iliad the goddess of beauty was Aphrodite in Aeneid she was Venus, in Iliad the god of the wind was Poseidon in Aeneid he was Aeolus.
In both epics, the existence of the supernatural was acknowledged. For example, there were exhibitions of powers like the course of the wind was changed when the god of the wind blew upon them. Both authors also bring into the story the concept of predetermined events that must come to pass which is called Fate. In Iliad it was determined that Troy will fall because of Paris.Although his mother, Queen Hecuba, tried to stop it from coming to pass by letting him get killed, Paris had survived and brought Troy to its inevitable doom. In Aeneid, Aeneas was destined to be the founder of Rome.
Although he lost his way and found himself in the arms of Dido in Carthage, he was eventually helped to land in Latium and indeed became Rome’s founder. Even his wife Lavinia, was also predetermined to marry a foreigner (Aeneas) and become a mother of an imperial line. Although Fate cannot be averted, both epics had alluded to the idea that the time of its fulfillment is flexible. In Iliad Achilles postponed his death when his mother dipped him in the River Styx but he did eventually die young during the Trojan War.
In Aeneid, Virgil also shows that Fate may be delayed when he told about Juno’s intervention of Aeneas journey. With the aid of the god of the wind, Aeolus, Aeneas group was blown off course to Africa where he met the beautiful Queen Dido of Carthage. Upon the collaboration of Juno and Venus, his mother, both Aeneas and queen Dido feel in love with each other and driven with passion Aeneas had forgotten all about his mission for twelve months. However, upon the reminder of Jupiter he eventually remembers about it and set sail towards Latium.
Also both authors had made it clear in the epic that although Fate’s time of fulfillment may be flexible, it cannot be altered by both men and the gods. In both stories, in spite of the intervention of men (such as Hecuba’s attempt in letting Paris get killed) and of the gods (like Juno and Venus’ attempts not to let Aeneas land in Latium), Fate wins in the end.It can be also noted that the hero Achilles in Iliad had a different concept of honor, a very individualistic one, than the hero Aeneas, who was more concerned by gaining honor through fulfilling his duty to others.Finally, it is obvious that Virgil’s Aeneas is symbolic of Rome, its glory and rise to power. Homer’s characters were not symbolic for he was actually telling a story about men who have certain types of characters.
Dryden, John. (2000). A Translation of Virgil’s Aeneid. Internet Classics Archive.
Accessed 17 October 2007< http://classics.mit.edu/Virgil/aeneid.html>
