The legendary poem "Aeneid" is part of the compulsory school curriculum for good reason. It is so rich in images, mythological elements and historical events that it can be called a real encyclopedia of the ancient world. In addition, the ancient Roman poet Virgil in the poem "Aeneid" wrote not only about wanderings and battles. Part of the work is devoted to sincere all-consuming love, which will not leave readers indifferent.
About the poet
At the end of the last century, a wall mosaic was accidentally excavated in the city of Sousse (Modern Italy), thanks to which we can see the image of Virgil. The poet was depicted there dressed in white toga, and next to him were the muses of history and tragedy. The face of Virgil is depicted as simple, as literary critics and historians will later describe him as “peasant,” but at the same time very bright and spiritualized.
The full name of this great poet is Publius Virgil Maron. He was born in 70 BC. e. in a small village near Mantua in a landowner family. Surrounded by the nature of Italy and hardworking peasants, he grew up loving and respecting the work of an ordinary person. Education future poet received in Milan and Rome. Later it was about Rome that Virgil ("Aeneid", a summary of which can be found in the article) will create his brilliant poem.
After the father died prematurely, the poet returned to his homestead to take the place of its owner. Due to internecine wars, the estate will be taken away, and Virgil will be expelled from his own house.
In 30 BC e. the collection “Bukoliki” is published, which is of interest to the well-known Guy Tsiliniy Patron. Later the collection “Georgiki” will be released, after which a monumental work will begin - the poem of Virgil “Aeneid”. The poet will give the last decade of his life to this work.
Briefly about the work
A grand poem of Virgil "Aeneid" was created for ten years. The master reworked his work many times, sometimes changing it in whole parts.
To portray the scene in the poem as realistic as possible, the writer goes on a journey. His plans were to visit many cities in Greece and Asia, but his trip was interrupted by a disease, after which in 19 BC. e. Virgil passed away. Nevertheless, the brilliant poet managed to create this work, known all over the world, to put all his knowledge and soul into it.
Mythological sources of the "Aeneids" of Virgil
It is known that the great poem had a mythological basis. It is believed that the story of the travels of Aeneas is a memorial not even of a Roman, but of a different culture. Later, with the light hand of the Greek poet Stesichorus and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Aeneas became the founder of Rome. The legend of a brave young man was widely known, which inspired Virgil. "Aeneid" was created on the basis of a legend, however, it is a completely independent work. This creation is original and original, it contains both historical facts, legends and events that really took place, as well as the author's style, verified plot moves and lively extraordinary characters.
It is also worth saying that the Romans sacredly honored the memory of Aeneas. Many aristocratic families tried to bring their descent from this hero. Thus, they wanted to affirm that they are descendants of the gods, since Aeneas himself was the son of the goddess Venus.
The trojan myth cycle
The mythological basis of Virgil’s poem “Aeneid” is a cycle of Trojan myths. On their basis, the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer were created. These are about forty myths that tell about the beginning of the Trojan War, the death of Troy and the further fate of the heroes.
The first myth of “Peleus and Thetis” tells about the wedding of a sea goddess and a mere mortal. All the inhabitants of Olympus were called to the celebration, but the invitation was not sent to the goddess of quarrels Irida. In a fit of resentment and anger, she threw a golden apple on the table, where three goddesses were sitting: Athena (Minerva), Hera (Juno) and Aphrodite (Venus). On the apple was written: "The most beautiful." Of course, the goddesses began to argue who was entitled to this gift. They were asked to judge the young Trojan of Paris, and he, tempted by the promise of Aphrodite to get the most beautiful woman, gave the apple to her. The other two celestials hated both Paris itself and its city. Later, Paris will steal the most beautiful woman of the ancient world - the wife of the Spartan king Elena. Her husband, armed with the support of two offended goddesses, will go to war on Troy and destroy her.
From here comes the dislike of Hera Juno to Aeneas, son of Aphrodite. The consequences of this hostility are well described in his poem Virgil. "Aeneid", the brief content of which we are considering, will tell you about the obstacles and troubles that the protagonist had to endure.
Interesting fact
Many scholars wonder why Virgil wanted to burn the Aeneid.
It turns out that when the work was ready, the poet often returned to him, changing individual words, parts, and even the general structure. When Virgil became seriously ill and fell ill, there was no strength to continue work on the poem. She seemed to him incomplete and imperfect. In a mad outburst of dissatisfaction with himself and his work, the great Roman poet wanted to burn his creation. There are two versions of why he did not. Perhaps his friends stopped him, or maybe he changed his mind himself, and, fortunately, the magnificent memorial of Roman literature was preserved.
Parallels with Homer's works
Virgil's poem "Aeneid" consists of two parts, six books each.
The first part tells about the wanderings of the protagonist - Aeneas. Here, literary critics very often draw parallels with the Homeric Odyssey. Aeneas, just like Odysseus, is returning from the Trojan War, just like Tsar Ithaki, is trying to save his fleet against the will of the gods unfavorable to him. He dreams of finding peace and not wandering around the world.
Another common trend is the theme of the shield in poems. In the Homeric Iliad, the whole song is given to the shield of Achilles, and Virgil also contains in the eighth chapter of the second part a detailed image of the shield of Aeneas, which depicts the foundation of Rome. The first six books will describe the hero’s wanderings by sea and land, his stay with the Carthaginian Queen Dido, a moral quest between the will from above and his own desires.
The second part is dedicated to the gods of Rome, which causes associations with the Iliad. It tells about a new war, where Aeneas will have to fight, and about the intervention of higher forces.
First part
Virgil’s poem "Aeneid", the brief content of which we present to your attention, begins traditional for the genre of "song". In it, the poet turns to muses and talks about the difficult fate of Aeneas, whose fault was the wrath of the goddess Juno (in Greek mythology - Hera). The following is a story that the gods in the age of heroes very often descended from Olympus to the earth. They went to mortal women to give birth to their sons. Goddesses did not favor mortal people. The exceptions were Thetis (from whom Achilles was born from a union with a mortal) and Aphrodite, who gave birth to Aeneas, which will be discussed.
The action of the poem takes us to the sea, which dissects the ship of the protagonist. He swims to the young city of Carthage. But Juno does not doze off and sends a terrible storm. One step away from certain death, the crew of Aeneas rescues Neptune, whom the mother of the hero, Venus, asked to do. Miraculously, the surviving ships are nailed to an unfamiliar shore. It turns out that this is the coast of Africa and the land of Queen Dido, who arrived here from Phenicia, where she nearly died at the hands of her brother and was forced to flee. She erects here the majestic city of Carthage, in the center of which the magnificent temple of Juno sparkles.
Dido receives the fugitives peacefully and prepares a feast for them, where Aeneas, fascinated by the beauty and hospitality of the queen, talks about the Trojan War and the last days of Troy. He describes how the cunning Achaeans (Greeks) created the figure of the famous Trojan horse and, hiding inside the “gift”, opened the gates of the bloodless Troy at night. So again we see parallels with the Homeric "Iliad" in Virgil. "Aeneid" in no case does not copy the Greek, but only based not on the same myths as his poems.
At night, Aeneas sees disturbing dreams in which prophecies are intertwined with memories: how Venus's mother helped save Aeneas with his son and old father. With them, our hero swims away from Troy, but doesn’t know which coast to join. Everywhere there are obstacles to which the evil Juno puts his hand. Over the six years of the forced wandering of Aeneas, many difficulties and mortal dangers await. This is an escape from the city infected with the plague, salvation from two sea monsters - Scylla and Charybdis. The desperate hero is looking for a way in the oracles of the oracles, but their predictions are confused. One prophesies to him the reign in Rome, the other - death from starvation of the whole fleet. The ships were dilapidated, the soldiers lost hope, and in one of the bays old father Ankhiz perishes. The story ends with the storm sent by Juno.
Dido with an open heart listens and sympathizes with Aeneas. A strong feeling flares up between them. Nature supports them with sparkling lightning, which compares the poet with wedding torches. The couple is aware of their feelings while hunting in a thunderstorm. The image of Aeneas in Virgil's Aeneid is most clearly revealed in his feelings for the queen of Carthage. We see him not only as a brave warrior and fair leader, but also as a loving man who is capable of surrendering with all his heart.
But lovers are not destined to be together. Jupiter orders Aeneas to sail to Rome. The hero does not want this, he wants to stay with his beloved, but he knows that he will not be able to resist the will of the gods. Dido, seeing the moving masts of the Aeneas flotilla, rushes to the sword.
The hero awaits further wanderings. Near Sicily, the wives of sailors set fire to the fleet so that their husbands do not sail away from them. Aeneas loses four ships, but continues the path bequeathed by the gods. In Italy, he meets a prophetess who sends him to the underworld of Hades, to his father Anchises. Only he can reveal everything about the descendants of the hero.
Aeneas descends to Hades, where he sees his fallen soldiers and his beloved Dido with a bloody wound in her chest, who looks reproachfully, but does not speak with him. Having found the spirit of his father, the hero realizes that his descendants are destined to found the greatest city and go down in history forever. Returning to the earth, Aeneas learns from Sibyl that his wanderings will continue on land. Thus completes the first part of his poem Virgil. The Aeneid continues in the following books.
"Aeneid". Summary of the second part
At the beginning of the second part, the tormented warriors continue their journey until they stop near Lacy. Here they have dinner with baked vegetables, laying them on bread cakes. When travelers eat and cakes, the son of the protagonist jokes: "So we ate tables." Surprised by Aeneas jumps up, he recalls a prophecy, which said "you will bite the tables of hunger." Now the hero knows that he has arrived at his goal. Here it is worth noting that the poem of Virgil "Aeneid" is saturated with a mystical sense of predictions and prophecies.
Rejoiced that he had reached his destination, Aeneas sends messengers to the king asking for the hand of his daughter. He joyfully accepts the offer, since he knows the prediction that says that the descendants of his daughter and a stranger are destined to conquer half the world and establish a powerful kingdom.
It would seem that Aeneas and his soldiers are waiting for peace. But Juno is not asleep and sends a shadow of war to Lacy. By chance, the warriors of Aeneas kill a deer, which offends King Latina. In addition, a wounded rejected contender for the hand of Lavinia Thurn is going to go to war against the rival Aeneas.
Venus asks God Hephaestus to create strong armor for Aeneas. The blacksmith god forges a powerful shield, which depicts the history of Rome. Virgil devotes a lot of space to this shield. "Aeneid" (a brief summary of the chapters, unfortunately, does not give a complete description of the shield) shows us the future and past of mighty Rome.
The beginning of a new war. The completion of the poem
While our hero is busy with preparations for the upcoming war, Thurn cunningly goes from the rear. But two warriors hailing from the fallen Troy - Evrial and Nis - make their way through the enemy’s parking lot at night to warn Aeneas. The night seems to help them: the moon is hidden behind the clouds and does not give a ray. The entire enemy camp is cast into a dream, and the soldiers pass, leaving behind the bodies of the enemies silently killed. But the brave men do not have time before dawn, and seize Euryale, and Nis goes against three hundred soldiers, but dies with dignity.
Juno breathes his divine power into Thurn, but Jupiter, enraged by her willfulness, limits his strength. Juno and Venus accuse each other of ending another war in anger and seek to help their favorites. Jupiter stops their argument and says that since the war has begun, then let it go by the will of fate. This explains the position of the gods Virgil. The Aeneid, however, shows them vicious and at the same time merciful. In various situations, they act just like people, obeying their feelings.
The detachment of our hero returns, and a terrible battle begins. Thurn kills an associate and close friend of Aeneas Palant and, blinded by a temporary victory, takes his belt. Aeneas bursts into the thick of the battle and almost overtakes Thurn, but Juno intervenes and defends him.
The war continues on, many worthy warriors die. The beautiful Amazon Camilla, struck by an arrow, falls. Mezenius and Loves, father and son, perish from the sword of Aeneas. When they die, they ask to bury them together.
Mourning his best warriors and listening to the cries of old Latina, Thurn makes a deal with Aeneas. He offers not to fight, but to meet in a duel. If victory is for Aeneas, this land will remain for him, and the rival will leave. Aeneas agrees, a temporary truce is declared, but suddenly in the sky an eagle attacks a flock of swans. Brave birds protect themselves in a flock, and a slain eagle takes flight. Mad old fortune teller Latina screams that this is a sign of their victory over Thurn who has come, and throws a spear at the enemy’s camp. Again, a battle ensues between the troops.
He sees all this from Olympus Juno and asks Jupiter not to let the Trojans impose their morals on Italy and to allow the name of Troy to perish with the fallen city. The king of the gods agrees and says that one nation will be born from all tribes and the whole world will be glorified with its glory.
In a boiling battle, finally, Aeneas and Thurn find each other. They converge in the last fight, and their punches are like thunder. Jupiter stands in the sky above powerful warriors, holding in his hands scales with the lives of heroes. After the first blow, Turn's spear breaks on the shield forged by Hephaestus-Volcano, and the enemy wounded in the thigh falls. Aeneas is ready to kill him, brings a sword over him, but his enemy asks for mercy for the sake of his old father. Aeneas stops, but his eyes see the belt of Palant on the Tour. And he, remembering the murdered friend, fights the enemy to death. This last scene ends with Virgil's poem.
Analysis of the work
Virgil's Aeneid, whose tradition and innovation are closely intertwined and seemingly inseparable, is indeed very progressive for its time. Traditional for the poem is the appeal to mythology as a source of plot moves, as well as its structure with the usual use of lyrical introduction and a brief appeal to the reader with a description of future events.
The innovation of the work lies in the image of the main character - Aeneas. Unlike the epic poems written before the Aeneid, the characters here are very sincere, real. Aeneas himself is not only a brave warrior, he is a loyal friend, a good father and a worthy son. In addition, the hero knows how to love. Despite the fact that by the will of the gods he is forced to leave his beloved Didon, he sincerely regrets this and does not want to leave.
Enough Virgil raises a lot of problems. The analysis of the poem is quite complicated, since the work is multifaceted and covers many ideas. The theme of prophecy occupies an important place in the work. Characters believe in fortune tellers and act as prescribed in the revelations of oracles and seers. And if even one of them does not believe the prophecy, it will come true anyway. But here everything is filled with somewhat different content than in Homer's Odyssey. In the poem of the great Greek, it was a question of the predicted difficult fate of Odysseus himself, and in "Aeneid" the hero was not predicted by fate, but his mission was to establish a new great kingdom. Despite the fact that Aeneas has to go through many worries and misfortunes, he, without flinching, goes to his goal.
The influence of the will of the gods on the fate of not only man, but also the whole people is traditional for the works of ancient Rome. However, in Aeneid, this takes on a new meaning. Here the gods not only seek their benefits in the form of reverence for them and the erection of temples, but they are also able to sympathize and empathize with mortal heroes and peoples whom they favor.
It is also worth noting the time of the journey of Aeneas into the underworld of Pluto. The theme itself is quite traditional, but innovative is the hero’s perception of souls seen and father’s heard prophecy in Hades.
Instead of conclusions
The poem "Aeneid" is an epic and powerful work of art, not even literature. In the work, human destinies and the fate of entire nations are closely intertwined, battles and personal experiences of heroes, friendship and love, simple human desires and the will of the gods, the highest destiny.
For ten years Virgil wrote a brilliant poem. "Aeneid" in chapters in translation is read quite easily. The poem will be interesting to everyone who wants to know about the history and culture of ancient Rome.