Questions: The Aeneid

These questions focus primarily on the beginning of the poem, the relationship between Aeneas and Dido,

and Aeneas’s visit to the Underworld. However, you should read the entire poem (as provided, an already

abridged version).

1. Who wrote The Aeneid? Who was he? When did he write the poem? What was his purpose?

2. Review at your epic poetry handout. You might have to go back to an earlier unit if you did not

print this out, and you might have to do this question in stages, because you might not find

examples for everything at the beginning of the poem. Define and provide examples of at least

six of the conventions of epic poetry from the poem.

3. What goddess is responsible for Aeneas’s troubles? Why? What has she got against him?

4. How does Hector help convince Aeneas that it is not cowardly to flee Troy?

5. Who is Aeneas’s mother? In what ways does she

influence him to leave Troy?

6. Why does Aeneas’s father not want to flee Troy with

him? How is he convinced to do so?

7. What happens to Aeneas’s wife Creusa? Why is this

important to the plot?

8. Who kills Priam and how? In what way does this

scene show a shift in perspective on the war from Greek to

Latin?

9. What kind of city does Aeneas find at Carthage?

What background does Dido have?

10. How does Aeneas’s mother make certain that Dido

will not hurt Aeneas? What role does Cupid (or Eros), her son, play?

11. What happens between Dido and Aeneas? How does she categorize it? How does he? What role

have the two goddesses played, and for what differing purposes?

12. How does the relationship between Dido and Aeneas impact her political fortunes (particularly

consider the feelings of the Ethiopian king Iarbus)?

13. How does the relationship between Dido and Aeneas impact the progress in Carthage itself?

14. What messenger does Zeus send to Aeneas and what message does he deliver?

15. What is Dido’s reaction to this?

16. How do the details of Virgil’s Underworld differ from Homer’s? In what way are they the same?

PART II: Essay Your answers to this question should be at least 750-1000 words. Do not plagiarize.

Describe the visit Aeneas makes to the Underworld in detail. Identify the Sybil of Cumae, for example,

as well as the golden bough, Cerberus, the simile describing the souls Aeneas finds there. As your thesis,

explain how justice is dispensed in the Underworld.