Theme Of Piety In The Aeneid

This week’s lectures were on the underworlds. I find it interesting how Virgil and Homer had an extremely different view of the underworld off each other. For Homer, he talked about the underworld in the Odyssey with Odysseus as the visitor. Odysseus has no problems going to the underworld he has no issues seen all he had to do was sacrifice a black sheep/ drink blood and is an enlightening experience for Odysseus. He learns about how to go on with the rest of this life thanks to Agamemnon and finds out why Poseidon hates him. Odyssey can talk to anybody he wants to and the underworld is setup as when your dead, your dead (no one is special). In Vigil’s version of the underworld in the Aeneid, Aeneas has a journey where he must first pass

The Aeneid, as well as The Inferno, depict hell as a place where there are multiple levels and where sins are punished differently depending on the degree of severity, the evilest of sins receiving the worst punishments. Virgil like Dante portrays an afterlife in which people are awarded for their deeds. This kind of belief would have been prominent in a character like Aeneas, he would have believed that his deeds would have been justly rewarded in the afterlife. While he most likely did not have the same set of values and virtues that St. Augustine later had after his conversion he did live by a code of honor or a set of values that pertained to his time and culture. The virtue he possessed that motivated him to establish a new home in modern day Rome was one of honor, which was very important to ancient civilizations, both greek and Trojans alike. To them virtue meant having honor, this is how they lived their spiritual journey. The journey that Aeneas takes in book six shows that the ancient cultures of the Greeks, Trojans, and Romans had a concept or understanding of the afterlife that influenced their moral decisions and values. They believed much like Christians that the good would be rewarded and the evil would be punished. While what they believed to be virtuous is different than what we as Christians believe, they like the character Aeneas still

Piety is a difficult word to understand and define. In Plato’s Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, he brings up a dialogue that rings true even today. The question of what piety is, and how can one fully understand so they can thereby live piously. Socrates rejected Euthyphro’s definition of piety as “what is dear to the gods” because this definition was vague, and did not truly explain what piety was and because as the gods are beyond understanding and are ununified, there is no exact set of what they hold dear. Socrates has many problems with Euthyphro’s definitions, because he is looking for Euthyphro to give him an accurate definition, while Euthyphro fails to give a proper definition.

Literary epics, including the Aeneid, typically have a very poetic and lyrical sense of style in the writing that go hand in hand with the other characteristics of epics such as supernatural forces, the actions of superhuman strength, and a hero or heroine. Authors of epics, for example the Aeneid, the Iliad, and the Odyssey, often include several different themes and lessons that the reader can learn from reading the stories. The themes and lessons vary from simple moral beliefs to psychological behavior. Most themes, however, have to do with the way humans act and human nature. In the Aeneid, one theme that deals with human nature is the idea that strong sentiments or feelings between people or towards situations can overwhelm a person and

Throughout the ages, authors have offered their opinions on what important qualities and defining characteristics a leader needs to posses by manifesting these critical qualities inside of their characters. One such book, the Aeneid by Virgil, offers such a scenario where Virgil argues that duty to gods should take precedence over everything, and he does not shy away from showing the consequences of when one neglects his or her duty. Virgil accomplishes this idea through his presentation of Aeneas, the main character of the story, as he routinely evidences to the reader that devotion to duty takes precedence over everything-even life itself. Aeneas, for example, even though he often suffers in the moment, he trusts the promptings of the gods,

After reading book four and twelve of The Aeneid, it is determined that Aeneas is neither a good or bad character or considered a hero. He is just caught up in the will of the gods with them intervening in every step he makes. Being born on Venus he just happened to be the perfect pawn to do the gods

Following traditional Socratic procedure, Socrates, in Plato’s Euthyphro, assumes the unfitting role of the ignorant pupil seeking to obtain knowledge from Euthyphro, the prosecutor and self-proclaimed expert on piety. However, as the dialogue progresses and the irony reveals itself, Euthyphro unveils his true ignorance and Socrates emerges as the wise prosecutor who questions the former on his various definitions and understandings of piety.

The continual decrease in birth rates was an alarming indicator of a decreasing elite class and of the depravity and adultery that plagued the Roman upper classes. Augustus believed that Rome’s long- term survival required adult citizens to produce more children but he did not want to deem this task up to individual conscience (wiki). These new laws which played a central role in the roman family unit for the next three centuries, absorbed and elevated the traditional power of the father figure in a Roman household. Created by Virgil the ancestral Roman hero Aeneas became an icon of Roman pietas or respect. He is often depicted escaping Troy with his father on his back and his son close at hand; The family man who looks back respectfully to the past generation and fights to secure the honor of the next (WoR). There were two sides of this legislation. The first side made marriage and the bearing of children a duty to the state. To ensure better results, the state offered incentives, such as tax breaks, to citizens who observed the laws and imposed several impairments on citizens who refused (Wiki). These laws enforced marriage *upon young men and women within similar age ranges, and remarriage on the divorced and widowed person within certain time limits***. The other side of this legislation placed family morality in higher

In many societies, ancient and modern, religion has played an important role in shaping people to pursue their destiny. In books two and four of the Aeneid by Virgil, the Trojans and Aeneas do exactly the same. Through the epic of book II , Aeneas goes on to explaining the war between the Trojans and the Greeks. Book IV focuses on Queen Dido and her deep love for Aeneas and the importance of god 's word to Aeneas, which is problematic for for Dido. Virgil proves how in the Roman culture the Romans put god in front of themselves and what they believe.

The purpose of roman heroes, which can be seen through the Virgil’s Aeneid is to give means to the origin of Rome (Sinnigen, 1965:55). Aeneas is thus appropriate, because Aeneas was excelled from Troy after it has been invaded by the Greeks, due to the capture of Helen, by Paris, and it was thus his duty to take his companions to a western land to find a city which would, as the centuries rolled by, achieve world dominance and civilize mankind ( Camps, 1967:33)

Finally, I’m going to talk about how honor plays probably the single biggest roles within Aeneas’ leadership style. Everything he does is based on how honorable or dishonorable it would be. Which makes since if you take into consideration the time period that we are talking about. The reason why many of these kings were in power during this time is because the people believed that they were more godlike, more honorable, then they were. Therefore, it makes sense that this would be held with such high regard. We see this in the epic increasingly present when Aeneas receives oracles or talks with his dad. These people remind him of his destiny and reset him on the path that he began on. So as you can see much of what Aeneas sees as honorable comes from what the gods what him to do, as this was common during this time. It would be similar to someone using a Judeo-Christian model to say what is honorable and what is not in today’s world.

The Romans emerged from Italy and formed their culture that can find its roots among an array of native tribes and Greek colonies that populated Italy. There are two parts of the foundation of a Roman’s identity that stemmed from the cultural influences that produced the Romans, their culture and their ideals. The first component of the foundation of the Roman identity is the usage and the incorporation of others’ myths into their own etiological myth. The second part stems from these myths that made the Romans believe that their existence and success was the result of fate. By looking into Virgil’s Aeneid and Sallust’s Conspiracy of Catiline one can see that this two-part foundation produced a society and people that embodied this idea that they were the best parts of all the cultures

The Aeneid is bursting with violent acts from the beginning to the end. The main character, Aeneas, constantly faces conflict from both humans and gods. Aeneas is a Trojan hero and prince who embodies pietas, driven by duty, honor, and devotion, which makes him an example of an ideal Roman citizen. Aeneas was called by the gods and determined to be a successful founder of Rome, but he faced complications along the journey. In each conflict along the way, Aeneas dealt with fighting and violence and could not find peace until the end. Honorable Aeneas fought until he could successfully carry out his destiny. Rome is known for their strength in war and fighting,

The basic hero qualifications are present in both books to portray how Aeneas and Achilles can be considered the heros. Overall, both men were fighting for their people, and for their loved ones lives. They also did not fear death and run away before after the fall of Trojan began. When the Greeks were losing terribly, Achilles still stepped in to assist them. Achilles also never left the war after he committed to participate in it. He demonstrated how sure he is about continuing the war after killing Hector when he says, “Dear venerable sir, you’ll sleep outside tonight, in case an Achaean officer turns up, one of those men who are forever taking counsel with me- as well they may. If one should see you here as the dark night runs on, he would report it to the Lord Marshal Agamemnon.Then return the body would only be delayed. Now tell me this, and give me a straight answer: How many days do you require for the funeral of Prince Hector?- I should know how long to wait, and hold the Achaean army” (Fitzgerald 271). In another word, he is not backing down from the war just because he killed who he wanted to. This portrays his loyalty to the Greeks in helping them be victorious in the battle. As Troy went up in flames, Aeneas stayed there to encourage others to help him fight even if they died. He was risking his family never seeing him, which

He has little care for his comrades, with the exception of Patroclus. Contrasting this, Aeneas is a placid and disciplined warrior. In the Aeneid, Aeneas is a venerable leader and a benevolent Roman. Homer’s did not idolize Achilles by turning a blind eye to his very human flaws, his actions have clear consequences. The raw, emotional depiction of Achilles is almost the polar opposite of the sober Aeneas.The contrasting intent between the two poems are heightened within the description of the hero's’ shields. Aeneas’ shield portrays the glorious accomplishments that future Rome will achieve.(Mastin). His shield solely revolves around the future of Rome. But Achilles shield is more cynical, it depicts what was occuring during the Siege of Troy and seems to mostly display the detriment of war. (“Iliad”).Considering that The Aeneid is political propaganda, it should come as no surprise to the reader that Aeneas’ shield caters to the Roman delusion that their empire is