ClSt / ComL 200, "Classical Myhtology"
Lecture Notes for Wednesday, March 17, 1999
Vergil's Aeneid and Heroic Genealogy
Myth and History
Summary of Vergil's Aeneid
Books 1-6: "Odyssey"
After the Trojan War, Aeneas, the greatest of the surviving
Trojan heroes, leads a band of refugees to a place called "Hesperia" (the
Western Land). Only gradually do the gods reveal through oracles how he
is to find this place, and what he is to do when he arrives. Eventually
he learns that the place where he is fated to settle is called Italy. After
many adventures that recall those of Odysseus (such as a near-encounter
with the Cyclops Polyphemus), Aeneas is close to his destination, when
Juno rouses a storm that sinks two of his ships and scatters the rest of
them along the north African coast. The fleet reassembles at Carthage,
where the Trojans are received hospitably by the Queen, Dido, herself an
exile and the founder of a new city. Through the conniving of Juno and
Venus, Dido falls in love with Aeneas. When the god Mercury reminds him
that he cannot stay in Carthage and he departs, Dido falls into despair
and commits suicide. Aeneas sails to Sicily, where he celebrates the anniversary
of his father's death; but while he does so, Juno sends her messenger,
Iris, down to earth to deceive the Trojan women into burning their ships.
Aeneas is despondent until his father, Anchises, appears to him in a dream
and tells him that he must leave behind the women and anyone else who is
not willing to face the hardships of settling in Italy. He also enjoins
Aeneas to land at the city of Cumae in Italy, where a prophetess called
the Sibyl will instruct him about the future, and will conduct him to the
underworld, where he is to meet the ghost of Anchises and receive further
instructions. Aeneas does this, and during his experience in the underworld,
he sees a number of people, such as Dido, who were lost along the course
of his journey to Italy; and Anchises shows him a great number of sould
waiting to be born as the heroes of the Roman history that is to come.
Books 7-12: "Iliad"
After arriving in Italy, Aeneas sends ambassadors to King Latinus,
announcing that he has arrived to found a new city, and that the gods have
promised him the hand of Latinus' daughter, Lavinia. Latinus accepts this,
but his wife, Amata, does not. She wants Lavinia to marry an Italian hero
by the name of Turnus; and again Juno is on hand to stir up trouble for
Aeneas by inciting Amata and Turnus to frantic opposition. While Aeneas
sails up the river Tiber to seek a military alliance, war breaks out between
the Trojans and the Latins. The war goes badly for the Trojans until Aeneas
returns with allies from a settlement on the site of what will be Rome,
led by a young man named Pallas. Almost immediately Pallas is killed in
battle by Turnus, enraging Aeneas. After further battles, Aeneas and Turnus
agree to settle their rivalry by single combat; but before this duel can
take place, an unknown archer shoots Aeneas in the thigh, and general battle
breaks out again. Aeneas is cured by the intervention of his mother, Venus,
and returns to face Turnus alone. As the poem ends, he slays Turnus, crying
out that he must die in revenge for Pallas' death.