Aeneid information Flashcards
When did Virgil begin work on the Aeneid and how long did he work on it?
c. 29BC and worked for 10 years
Who is a source on how Virgil wrote the Aeneid and what does it say?
Donatus says that Virgil drafted it in prose, split it into 12 books and worked on it bit by bit in whatever order he fancied
What metre does Virgil write in?
Dactylic hexameter
Who was Virgil’s patron?
Maecenas - advisor to Augustus
Who proposed the idea that the books of the Aeneid mirror each other (e.g book 7 mirrors book 1 etc)
Ducksworth
When does Virgil include narrator intervention?
- to the muses in books 1,7 and 9
- to the gods - Mars b11, Jupiter b12
- to himself b9
- to his reader b4, b10
- to participants - b7 Oebalus
What is the effect of the use of 1st person in flashbacks?
- increases tragedy
- gives specific perspective e.g Aeneas’ birdseye view of Troy
- questions if Aeneas puts a spin for Dido
- allows time for Dido to succumb to Venus’ poison
5 examples of ekphrasis in the Aeneid?:
- the sculpture of the Carthaginian’s temple to Juno b1
- the sculpture on the temple to Apollo at Cumae b6
- Turnus’ shield b7
- Aeneas’ shield b 8
- Pallas’ sword-belt b10
What is catalogue?
Like a list - giving description of individuals
2 catalogues in the Aeneid?
book 7 list of Turnus
allies
- book 10 listing Aeneas’ allies
What can Virgil’s descriptive techniques be compared to?
a camera
Difference in purpose of Homer and Virgil?
Homer told stories of a heroic world shrouded in myth
Virgil moved from fantasy to the real world
Who is presented as the second Achilles, predicted by the Sibyl in book 6?
Turnus
Who in the Aeneid compare to Achilles and Patroclus?
Nisus and Euryalus
Whose thirst for time is their downfall?
Nisus and Euryalus - especially Nisus who gains fame and glory through his sacrifice but has abandoned his mission
Aeneas as a post-Homeric hero?
- no need for kleos
- more humble than Odysseus
- pietas key difference
- Aeneas’ fights for other’s glory not his own
- Aeneas often considers his heirs, fate, the community and shows reluctance to fight
How old was Virgil during the civil wars?
21-40
Which female characters parallel each other and how?
Dido and Camilla
- their clothes and their deaths
How is war portrayed in the Aeneid? (3)
- causing suffering
- a result of human behaviour
- represented by images of inhuman/ irrational behaviour
How are Trojans portrayed in the Aeneid? (3)
- city characterised by wealth
- seen as victims - first Juno then Greeks
- mocked by enemies - for being effeminate mostly
How are Greeks portrayed in the Aeneid? (4)
- murderous
- treacherous
- Evander shifts perception
- expressed by Anchises to not be an enemy in future
How are Carthaginians portrayed in the Aeneid? (4)
- civilised
- regulated social structure/ activity (bees)
- wealth and luxury similar to Troy
- connection with Augustus’ invasion of Egypt, doesn’t wish to portray too negatively
How are Italians portrayed in the Aeneid? (5)
- already on brink of civil war
- Latinus has already received prophecy + child’s hair on fire
- Latinus must be seen as an ancestor and his city in resonance with Augustan Rome
- people of Pallanteum have Roman values
- Virgil gives a catalogue of the tribes fighting against Aeneas - ancient audience would have recognised their homes
Aeneas’ main epithet?
pius
Aeneas and Odysseus both lament not having died at Troy. What is the difference between the two?
Aeneas doesn’t reference the glory this would bring, whilst Odysseus says a death at Troy would have “spread my fame abroad” and says “it seems I was predestined to an ignoble death”
What is furor used to describe?
- Dido’s love, madness and suicide
- Amata after her visit from Allecto
- Turnus rushing to war
- Aeneas defending Troy
- Aeneas avenging Pallas
6 scenes around edge shield of Aeneas?
- wolf, Romulus, Remus - to found Rome in the 750sBC
- rape of the Sabine women
- pubishment of dictator of Alba Longa who will make a treaty and then desert the king of rome, 673-642BC
- 508BC etruscan attack on rome
- 390BC Gauls
- Scenes from the Underworld - events of 1st century BC
scene in centre of shield of Aeneas?
Augustus’ victory at Actium 31BC and triple triumph of 29BC - 54 lines compared to 41 lines depicting the whole edge of shield
Who tells Turnus to attack the Trojan camp b9?
Iris (sent by Juno)
What piece of equipment does Turnus have made by the gods?
The sword given to his father Daunus
Why does Amata kill herself?
She thinks Turnus has been killed
How long is the truce in book 11 agreed for?
12 days
What is the overall story being shown by Aeneas’ shield?
it displays the propensity of Rome towards inner conflict, civil strife and therefore Actium as the inevitable outcome of this propensity to turn against herself
- Romulus and Remus portrayed before the fratricide, and a set of key oppositions - east vs. west, male vs. female, one vs. many, olympian vs. egyptian gods, order vs. chaos
What real life parallel is there to Aeneas’ shield in book 8?
the gold shield given to Augustus which was placed in the Senate house
