Transcript Virgil and Aeneas

Virgil and Aeneas
The Greatest Roman Author and
Hero
Virgil
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• Publius Vergilius
Maro
• Born:Oct. 15, 70 B.C.
• Died: Sept. 21, 19
B.C.
• Born in Mantua,
northern Italy
• Studied philosophy in
Rome.
Early Works
• Bucolics
- “on care of cattle”
- tells of revolutionary
change in Rome
during Republic
• Georgics
- about farming and
rural life
Augustus
• First Roman emperor
• Wanted to unite Rome
with an epic that displayed
national pride.
• Believed he was
descendant of Aeneas,
who is also the son of the
goddess, Venus.
• Commissioned Virgil to
write the great Roman
epic.
Writing of the Aeneid
• Took 10 years to write
• 12 books
• First 6 books: modeled
after Odyssey (journey)
• Last 6 books: modeled
after Iliad (war epic)
• Tells the story of Aeneas
from the end of the Trojan
War to his founding of the
Roman race in Italy.
Trojan War (Judgment of Paris)
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Judgment of Paris
At wedding of Peleus and Thetis
Dischord throws apple “For the Fairest”
3 goddesses: Venus, Minerva, and Juno fight for it.
Paris (Trojan) picks Venus and receives Helen,
most beautiful woman (Greek)
• She was married to king Menelaus (Greek)
• Greeks want her back, Troy refuses; war ensues.
Judgment of Paris
City of Troy
• “impenetrable walls”
• King Priam
• Sons are Hector, strongest
Trojan warrior and Paris
• Aeneas is leader of
Dardanians, sect of
Trojans.
• Greeks try to breach walls
for 10 years with no
success.
Trojan Horse
• Devised by Odysseus,
Greek warrior (Odyssey)
• Trojans thought it was gift
for their deity
• Laocoön (Trojan) believes
horse is a trick. He is
killed by serpents.
• Trojans take the horse
inside the city.
Synopsis of Trojan War Using Legos
Escape from Troy
• Aeneas escapes with
his men, his father,
and son.
• Wife, Creusa, does not
make it.
• Escape while Troy is
burning.
Barocci’s Aeneas
Wanderings of Aeneas
Aeneas in Italy
• After many years of
wandering to different
places, Aeneas finds
Latium in Italy and
battles with people
there.
• He is victorious and
becomes father of
Roman race.
Back to Virgil
• Virgil spent 10 years
writing Aeneid and
died with it being
incompleted.
• Asks slaves to burn
only manuscript.
• They do not and it
survives to this day.
A Look at the Aeneid
• Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris
Italiam, fato profugus, Laviniaque venit
litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto
vi superum saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram;
multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem,
inferretque deos Latio, genus unde Latinum,
Albanique patres, atque altae moenia Romae.
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Conclusions
• Aeneid was written as the national epic for Rome
by Virgil for Augustus.
• The story involves Aeneas after the Trojan War
between the Trojans and the Greeks.
• Aeneas and his men left the city of Troy and ended
in Latium in Italy.
• The Aeneid is the most famous and probably most
important work of Latin poetry.