Similarities Between The Aeneid And The Odyssey

The Iliad and the Odyssey are some of the best know books of antiquity, filled with the history and roots of the Greek people. Also belonging to this list of ancient texts is the Aeneid, the epic poem on the founding of Rome, and of the man who made it happen, a man who was seen and considered as the embodiment of Roman moral values. Because of this, the poem if suffused with many instances in which he is able to show the extent of his morality. It is through these examples that we catch glimpses of what Rome’s thinking is like in regards to their moral values and that we can see what kind of importance they put in it. It’s for this reason that the Aeneid can be a great point of reference from which to see how this work of literature influenced …show more content…
Virgil, full name being Publius Vergilius Maro, was a male roman poet born in 70BCE in the village of Andes, near Mantua in Cisalpine Gaul. He came from an equestrian landowning family, which meant that his family could afford to give him a good education, and he went to school in Cremona, Milan in northern Italy, Naples to the south, and most importantly Rome, where he was introduced to Octavian and became one of his close friends. He briefly considered a career in law and rhetoric, but then decided to turn his talents towards poetry. Besides the Aeneid, he is also very well known for his other works, which include the Eclogues, the Georgics, and a number of minor poems collected into a book called the Appendix Vergiliana. He died in Brundisium in the year 19BCE, while still working on the Aeneid, after contracting a fever and being severely weakened by the …show more content…
The Romans, with a lineage going all the way back to Troy could now say to be equals with the eastern peoples they conquered, and whose civilizations and cultures were much older than Rome’s, therefore giving them even more prestige than before, showing that they descend from great empire and therefore are a great empire themselves. The fall of Troy could be said to be necessary because Fate intended its survivors to form part of the Roman race, which shows the favor of the gods, and that they thought their ancestors to be of such importance that they be saved from death in the besieged city of Troy. Rome’s growth, in turn, could be seen as not by chance but by design of the gods. Aeneas is told his descendants, the Roman people who read the poem in Augustus’ age, must govern their empire in peace and with just laws. This would be helpful in preventing any uprisings against the new regime, and turning people over to a more favorable way of viewing the new