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The Aeneid vs. The Odyssey

Virgil vs. Homer

Conclusions?

The Differences

  • Virgil definitely pays homage to Homer:
  • Replication of certain scenes e.g. funeral games
  • Echoes in the language
  • Some characters mirror each other
  • However, he develops epic poetry into a far more complex and thought-provoking form, adapting it for a more difficult and morally ambiguous world
  • Heroism is adapted to stricter Roman morals and to an 'unheroic' world
  • Places it within a long-term historical perspective to build on Rome's founding myth
  • Gods are there to maintain the cosmic world order, but don't get involved in the petty human way that they do in Homer's works
  • Rather than being noble and just, warfare is brutal, unnecessary and destructive
  • Altogether, Virgil recreates epic poetry for the new era that Rome was entering, where morals and justice are uncertain, and the rewards of good conduct unknown
  • No happy endings: Odysseus gets home and wins, Aeneas suffers in horrible wars and destroys those he loves
  • What makes a hero: Odysseus is a returning victor and Achilles is a passionate warrior, and Aeneas seems tame and morally strict compared to them - or is he just an 'unheroic' hero coming to terms with a world that is now unheroic as well? Is he a 'real world hero'?
  • Turnus (the 'new' Achilles in the Aeneid) seems out of place e.g. his gloating over his dead enemies comes across as wrong - the Homeric heroic code seems to be gone
  • Prophesy and omens are used to glorify Augustus in the Aeneid - gives us a sense of time and place
  • Odysseus chooses his mission - he wants to return home - whereas Aeneas has his destiny put upon him
  • Tone: the Odyssey is light-hearted fantasy, but the Aeneid is dark and thought-provoking about the horror of war
  • The role of the poet: Homer's role is unclear and passed down the text as oral poetry, whereas Virgil has clearly constructed and revised his text as a written work
  • "Sing, muse, of the wrath of Achilles" vs. "arma virumque cano" - the poet is making his mark here

The Plots

The History

  • Bks 1-6 of Aeneid respond to the Odyssey - travels, tempted by women
  • Bks 7-12 of Aeneid respond to the Iliad - fighting, almost a second Trojan war for Aeneas
  • Other parts of the Aeneid specifically reflect Homer:
  • Both start 'in medias res'
  • Both have long flashbacks filling in the plot
  • Iliadic funeral games in Bk. 5 mirror Bk. 23
  • Dealing with Nausicaa vs. Dido as potential royal consorts
  • Travels with monsters in Bks 3-6 are very similar to Odyssey 9-12: Aeneas meets a man that Odysseus left behind with the Cyclops!
  • Both visit the Underworld, but Aeneas' visit has far more meaning and importance for him
  • Turnus, at the end of the Aeneid, is a new Achilles, and gets lots of Iliadic lion and bull similes
  • Odyssey and Aeneid both show a hero traveling to a (new) home and being helped by a patron deity BUT there is much more at stake for Aeneas - his journey has universal, rather than just personal, importance
  • Odyssey written in 5th century B.C. - Aeneid between 30-19 B.C, but Virgil had been planning it for years previously
  • Odyssey tells tale of Greek return from Troy, while Aeneid tells story of defeated Trojan going to found a new city (later to be Rome)
  • Virgil writing in age of Augustus = first Roman emperor
  • Why did Virgil chose to write this epic?
  • Give the Roman founder the heroism of the Trojan heroes
  • Please Augustus as a the founder of the 'new' Rome
  • Demonstrate the evils of war and conflict
  • Competitiveness to outdo Greeks as writers
  • The two epics share a lot of similarities in their style, structure and even some events BUT celebrate very different values, representing their societies
  • Odyssey = kleos, justice, loyalty, xenia
  • Aeneid = pietas, virtus
  • These values are embodied by each of their heroes
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