Homer vs. Virgil
In ancient Greece numerous forms of entertainment existed, the most popular being listening to the tales sung by the many rhapsodists throughout the great country. The epic poetry they recited enthused many Greek civilians. The people of Greece loved the tales written by the famous poet Homer the most. He captured the attention of his listeners with his detailed writings of several heroes of the day. Two of his writings include The Iliad and The Odyssey. After the great Homer, multiple writers tried to emulate the stories he created, but none could compare. Then came Virgil, a roman poet hired by Augustus Caesar to create a tale describing the beginning of Rome. He wrote The Aeneid, which is considered one of the most famous pieces of epic poetry written in Rome. The work of Homer and Virgil can be compared through hero’s fate, conflict, and the intervening of gods and goddesses. In their poetry, Homer and Virgil both used heroes as main characters for their epic poetry. But the two had very different ideas of how a hero should act. Homer let heroes choose their own fate, such as the case for Achilles. Achilles may be one of Homer’s most famous heroes. He comes from the epic The Iliad, in which Homer gives him Hubris (which is common in Homeric Heroes). Hubris is an abundance of confidence and pride, which causes Achilles to make rash decisions that occasionally change his fate. In The Iliad , after Achilles is angered by his ruler’s decision of taking away his prize of honor he decides to reside from the Trojan War, which he knows will save his life because he was told his fate was to be killed in the war. Although, when his best friend and successor is killed in the war, he makes a rash decision to rejoin the conflict. “‘I shall go forth to slay Hector, who killed the man I loved. I shall accept my fate whenever Zeus and the other immortals bring it upon me. Until then, may I win great fame and glory, and may every Trojan realize that the greatest of the