Parallels to Ancient Rome (Political, Historical, Social (gender))

Question 1

According to Morgan, what 4️⃣ things makes the Aeneid an Epic?

🦸🏼‍♂️ ☄️🖋️🏛️

Answer 1

1) Populated by Heroes
- Superior-to-human beings

2) Significant Events
- Have the concern of the Gods
- Has great ramifications for Human History

3) Use of extended Similes to make us contemplate moments
- For longer than usual

4) Troy
- It’s grand and it’s epic
- In Ancient POV = Greatest story EVER told

Question 2

How does Morgan say Virgil and his contemporaries might’ve viewed the story of Troy? 🥱

Answer 2

Scholar Morgan says Virgil and his contemporaries would’ve seen the story of Troy as overdone

e.g. In tragedies, other (fragmented) epic poetry

Question 3

HOW does Virgil combat the repetitiveness of stories on the fall of Troy?

Answer 3

Morgan says he uses the structural technique of In Media Res and throws us into Carthage for the backstory

Question 4

What technique does Morgan say Virgil did to renew the appeal of the Epic? 🥱😯

Answer 4

He injects the fall of Troy with a significance that makes it newly interesting for his Roman readers

Question 5

WHICH figure does Morgan say we know Virgil intended the death of Priam, at the hands of Pyrrhus,
to represent? 🇪🇬

Answer 5

Morgan says
“We know that the death of Priam was supposed to recall the death of Pompey the Great in 48BC.”

• The image of Priam lying on the shore, headless = fate of Pompey the Great at Egypt

Question 6

What moments in The Aeneid does Morgan say had relevance to an Ancient audience?