Characters

Question 1

Aeneas

Answer 1

Pious - mindful of his duty to honour the gods, his family and country.
Measured, generous and responsible.
Son of Venus - large, handsome and supernaturally strong.
Unsure and conflicted - handles Dido badly and behaves callously.
Destined to found the Roman race in Italy.
A hero of the Trojan War.

Question 2

Dido

Answer 2

Strong and brave - founded Carthage after her brother’s treachery, who killed her husband, Sychaeus.
Made to love Aeneas by Venus and Juno.
Stabs herself with Aeneas’s sword, after he leaves her.
Curses Aeneas people - root of the long conflict between Carthage and Rome.
Consequences of the gods’ will conflicting with fate.

Question 3

Turnus

Answer 3

Primary hero for the Latin forces.
Large, attractive and unusually strong - son of a goddess.
Impulsive, arrogant, exaggerated sense of own importance.
Defined by anger - partly due to Allecto instilling rage.
Represents the destiny of those who oppose Rome.

Question 4

Anchises

Answer 4

Aeneas’ father - ‘best of fathers’.
Wise and strong.
Isn’t always right.
Exemplifies the Roman ideal of respect and honour for family (father and son).

Question 5

Juno

Answer 5

Aeneas’ main antagonist.
Queen of the gods and goddess of marriage.
Always scheming to prevent Aeneas’ fate - in Carthage and Italy.
Displays the reckless whims and limits of the gods - they cannot change fate.

Question 6

Venus

Answer 6

Aeneas’ mother.
Repeatedly advocates to Jupiter on Aeneas’ behalf.
Makes Dido fall in love with Aeneas, so that he is safe in Carthage - doesn’t consider the consequences.

Question 7

Jupiter

Answer 7

King of the gods.
Responsible for ensuring that the Fates’ predictions come to pass.
Calm and measured in contrast to Juno’s vengeful anger.

Question 8

Latinus, Amata and Lavinia

Answer 8

King of Latium and Aeneas’s potential father-in-law.
Wife of Latinus and mother of Lavinia; Juno turns Amata against Aeneas.
Latinus’ daughter, Turnus and Aeneas fight over her as a potential future wife.

Question 9

Creusa and Ascanius

Answer 9

Aeneas’ first wife, who dies during the fall of Troy.

Aeneas’ young son, who will be a great forefather of the Romans.

Question 10

The Sibyl and Allecto

Answer 10

Apollo’s priestess, who predicts Aeneas’s future and guides him through the Underworld.
The Fury called upon by Juno to incite war between the Trojans and the Latins.

Question 11

Turnus as a Homeric hero.

Answer 11

Presented as the second Achilles predicted by the Sibyl. 
Obligations as a leader. 
Burns with fury against his enemy. 
Bold and brave in his fighting. 
Has divine protection. 
Impressive in his armour. 
Proud with fear of shame. 
Likened in similes to fierce animals.

Question 12

Anna

Answer 12

Dido’s sister.

Acts with the best intentions but always seems to harm Dido in some way.