Legends of Aeneas Flashcards
Rome
No creation story & almost no devine myth (Roman myth = legend)
* Roman Legends best understood as propaganda (moral of the story most important)
* Rome sits on a group of seven hills near the Tiber River (hills = good defense)
Monarchy to Republic to Empire
Early days Rome = ruled by kings (Etruscan origin)
Later, ruled by Republic, Res publica = “Business of the people”
Patricians (“fathers”): Ruling class made up of elite families.
Plebeians (“multitude”): Rest of the population.
Republican period saw the dramatic expansion of Roman territory and power
Julius Caesar: key figure, Late Republic, accused of putting his own ambitions before the needs of the state. Amassed great power. Assassinated by the senate.
After: Marc Antony, Octavian (aka Augustos) claimed his power.
Octavian (aka Augustus) was granted all the power = Empire ruled by an Emperor
Difference between Mars and Ares
Mars = Ares: more complicated than the others
Closely associated with the wolf: protector of flocks or been a primordial god of war
Much more significant in Roman mythology
name, month of March: good time for beginning military operations but also for harvesting
Associated with farming and the protection of agriculture
Mars and Agriculture - Cato the Elder’s (234-149 BCE) Handbook on how to run a farm
Advice on raising animals, ensuring slave efficiency, proper sacrifice to please the gods
“Suovetaurilia” Purifying land: includes sacrifice pig, sheep, and bull in honour of Mars
Wine to Janus and Jupiter, and say: “Father Mars ++ lots of stuff.
Hercules = Heracles:
Rome earliest foreign cult. Name Change reflects Roman pronunciation
— Cult of Hercules at Rome - universal appeal of most important Greek hero
Reflective of Rome’s appetite for foreign novelties
— Remember: Hercules had passed through Rome during his tenth labour.
Stole the cattle of Geryon in the far west and drove them through Italy
the Forum Boarium: Special cults dedicated in the area through which he traveled
— Evander: Greek king, said to have been one of the first settlers in the region
Built altar to thank Hercules for having liberated Rome from Cacus, the cattle-rustler
Altar still functioned into the 4th century CE
Rome’s first athletic contests in the 2nd century BCE
The Lares
The Lares Protective gods of place Connected to the home, the neighbourhood, the city.
Integral to the world of mortals. Connected to everyday activities cooking, eating, drinking wine, and traveling. Earliest surviving evidence portrayed guardians of territory and the Roman community as a whole
In the Republic and Empire - Represented as youthful, dancing male figures
Wear short tunics common to the countryside. In one hand, carry a drinking horn as if offering a toast. In the other hand, carry a shallow dish for libations [for the homies]
- in the Home - If no designated shrine, homes would at least have small statues of the lares
Statues placed on the table during family meals and banquets
Considered important divine witnesses for marriages, births, funerals, coming-of-age etc.
The Domestic Shrine
Most households had a lararium
Usually contained representations of genius and panates of the household
Genius = Ancestor. Panates = Guardians of the storehouse/food
Penates: Portable lares. Numen of the storehouse
Vergil
[Poet, Author of Aeneid]
Became part of Augustus’ inner circle, as an advisor Maecenas was one of his patrons.
- Best known for three poems: Modeled on the works of Homer and Apollonius of Rhodes
Ecologues: Roman version of Greek bucolic poetry; 10 pastoral sections.
Georgics: Methods of running a farm; how-to style of Hesiod’s Works and Days
Aeneid: Most famous work; Aeneas, hero of the Trojan War, Ancestor to romans
Books 1-6 corresponds to Homer’s Odyssey (Aeneas’ at sea and adventures)
Books 7-12 corresponds to the Iliad (Aeneas’ war against native Italic groups)
Consciously Romanizing Homeric epics: Written in Latin, not Greek
Especially pietas (“duty”) towards the gods, his family, and his new fatherland
Aeneas and Rome
Aeneas, having fled Troy with 12 ships of refugees, wandering around the Mediterranean for 7 years. A storm, instigated by Juno, destroys some of the ships, but others reach North Africa. Aeneas mother, Venus, sends Cupid to breathe passion into Dido, Queen of Carthage, refugee, fled Tyre, husband was killed, vow of chastity to husband’s ghost. Aeneas tells the story of the fall of Troy: carried his lame father and the Penates out of burning Troy, stops along the way [consciously imitating Odysseus’ travels]. land in Sicily where they encounter an enraged and recently blinded Cyclops, Polyphemus [Odysseus had just left]. Father dies, buried before they end up in Carthage
Dido
falls hopelessly in love with Aeneas “thanks Cupid”
Aeneas and Dido, out hunting, thunderstorm, bang in a cava, blue ball naibour mad = prays to Jupiter, who sends Mercury to Aeneas, Aeneas must abandon Dido, she kills herself when he leaves and curses him [mystical explanation of the Punic Wars]
