Virgil’s Aeneid: Who’s whoAeneas--Trojan prince, son
of Venus and AnchisesAnchises--father of AeneasAscanius or Iulus--son of
Aeneas, destined ruler of Rome (Iulus Julius)
Creusa--A’s Trojan wifeDido--A’s Carthage wife Lavinia--A’s Roman wifeTurnus--Lavinia’s rejected
suitor
Pyrrhus or Neoptolemus--illegit son of Achilles; slayer of Priam & Hecuba
Anna--sister of DidoIarbas--Dido’s rejected and
angry African suitorUlysses or Odysseus--mind
behind Trojan horseDeiphobus--Trojan prince
betrayed by HelenSinon--Greek who betrays
Trojan “saviors”
Virgil (70-19 B.C.) on Homer (8th C B.C.)
IMITATES• extended similes• opening invocation to
Muses• six beat line composed
mostly of dactyls (/ˇˇ) with some spondees (//) Homeric verse is dactylic hexameter
• begins in middle of plot and tells earlier events through flashback (in media res)
CORRECTS• Aeneas not allowed to
indulge wrath at expense of family, nation
• Aeneas not allowed to find love (as Odysseus), marries to found dynasty
• Homer allows Troy to fall so power base could shift to Greece, but Virgil corrects this by having Trojan Aeneas survive to found Rome, which conquers Greece in turn.
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