Relevant Rome

  As book 8 begins, Aeneas is observing Turnus gathering his forces to come against him, and is greatly troubled. He isn’t sure what to do. He drifts off to sleep and the rivergod Tiberinus comes to him and instructs him to travel upriver to create an alliance with King Evander in order to face off with Turnus. Aeneas rises and goes to the river to pray. Aeneas then follows Tiberinus’ instructions and departs that day.  They arrive in the lands of King Evander and are greeted by his son Pallas. Pallas asks who they are. Aeneas explains who they are, and Pallas takes Aeneas to his father, King Evander. Aeneas explains the situation and asks for help against Turnus. King Evander welcomes Aeneas and agrees to give him aid in the coming battle.  In the meantime, they enjoy a feast and Evander tells Aeneas the story of Hercules coming to those very lands to defeat an ogre named Cacus, who had stolen all of the cattle. He then tells Aeneas how people first came to be in those lands and s

  Book 7 marks the beginning of the second half of the Aeneid . The second half recounts Aeneas’ arrival in Italy, as well as the way in which he comes to power there.  Book 7 begins with the fleet arriving in Italy. They sail up river in search of a good place to land. Meanwhile, we are introduced to King Latinus. His only son is dead, so he is left with his only daughter, Lavinia. She is courted by many men, but the best among them is Turnus. Latinus’ wife is especially interested in Turnus and really wants him to be her son-in-law. However, the gods warn otherwise. After some omens appear, the seer reveals that Lavinia must marry a foreign man, and not marry into a Latin family. After this, Lavinia’s hair catches fire, revealing that she will have a bright future, but a great war would come. This foreshadows the remainder of the Aeneid, which is primarily taken up by war. While this is happening, Aeneas and the Trojans are feasting in the shade of the trees on the riverbank. They ar

  Book 6 picks up with Aeneas still mourning the fall of Palinurus. The fleet reaches Cumae, where Aeneas is to meet with the Sibyl. He finds her and she commands him to sacrifice bulls and sheep, then to return to her. Aeneas does so, and the Sibyl then commands him to pray to Apollo. After Aeneas prays to Apollo, the Sibyl gives him instructions on how to enter the underworld. Aeneas follows the Sibyl’s instructions and he follows her into a cave which leads them to the shores of Styx. When they arrive there, Aeneas sees many souls trying to beg for passage across Styx, but Charon can only ferry those who have had a proper burial. Aeneas sees Palinurus in the crowd and speaks with him. Palinurus had washed up on the shores of Italy where he was killed by bandits. The Sibyl promises that Palinurus will receive a proper burial and sends him away from them.  Aeneas and the Sibyl approach Charon and show him a bough that Aeneas had plucked which would grant them access to the underwo

  This post is a snapshot of Livy, the great Roman historian. The only surviving work of Livy is his ab Urbe Condita , a history of Rome from its founding up to Livy’s contemporary time, during the reign of Augustus.  Born Titus Livius in around 59 BC, Livy spent his formative years in an era of civil wars. He was born in Patavium (modern Padua), which was one of the wealthiest cities in the province Cisalpine Gaul. The province was merged with Italy and Julius Caesar granted the inhabitants the status of Roman citizenship.  It is estimated that Livy went to Rome around 30 BC and began writing while he was there. Unlike many other Roman writers, Livy did not hold any government offices, nor did he serve in the Roman military. It is assumed that he had a level of financial independence and fully devoted himself to writing. Livy’s history of Rome contains embellishments to highlight Rome as the greatest civilization on Earth and shines a positive light on everything the Romans eve

  Book 5 opens with Aeneas sailing away from Carthage. He sees the flames from Dido’s pyre, and is sad that he left her, but is still unaware that she has taken her own life due to the immense grief she felt when he decided to leave.  Once the ships are out on the water, they realize just how bad the weather is at the moment. The Trojans are very worried about what will happen to them due to the weather. They realize there is no way they will make it to Italy while the storm rages, so they change course and head to Sicily, where Eryx, the brother of Aeneas, lives.  They arrive safely on the shores of Sicily and Aeneas performs some funeral rites for his father. Sicily is ruled over by Acestes, a Trojan. He welcomes them warmly and they decide to hold some games.  The majority of book 5 from this point on can be best described as a “filler episode.”  Virgil introduces many characters who participate in different events, gives an account of each event, followed by a detailed description

  Following the founding of Rome , the residents of the newly established city encountered a problem. They wanted their new city to endure through the ages, to be a beacon of strength, however, it occurred to them that they were all men. In order to raise children to inherit the city, they needed to find some women to marry. This is the story of how the Romans met their wives. To his credit, Romulus began the search for wives in a very reasonable way. He sent people to the surrounding cities to inquire about creating an alliance and intermarrying. However, the men of those cities were hesitant to entrust their daughters to the men of some new city which hadn’t yet proven itself to be a safe or stable place. The offer of an alliance was rejected by every city in the area.  Of course, this made the Romans quite angry since they believed themselves to be the strongest city of them all. They came up with a new strategy. Livy tells us: Romulus, concealing his resentment, made ready sol

Book 4 contains the tragic story of Dido. Since Aeneas had finished his story and went to rest, and since Dido had been smitten with love for him by Venus, she finds herself unable to get him out of her mind. She talks about it with her sister Anna. She tells Anna that if she hadn’t sworn on the ashes of her first husband, she might actually try to pursue a relationship with Aeneas. Anna tells her to go for it, because she is still young and deserves to be happy with someone. Dido decides to give it a shot. They visit many shrines to ask for the gods’ approval. Dido then spends as much time as  she can with Aeneas. Her passion for him grows and grows. Juno sees that Dido is lovesick and confronts Venus. Juno congratulates Venus on her successful plan of causing Dido to fall in love with Aeneas, then proposes that they join forces and bring about the marriage of Dido and Aeneas. Venus is suspicious of Juno’s intentions and suggests that Juno seek Jupiter’s approval. Juno says she will,

  The Trojan War was triggered by a singular event, that of the Judgment of Paris. Let us begin by introducing our cast, using Grimal’s Dictionary of Classical Mythology as the main source: Thetis : Thetis is one of the Nereids, meaning she is an immortal divinity of the sea. She was pursued romantically by Jupiter and Neptune, until the Oracle of Themis said that the son born to Thetis would be more powerful than his father. Upon hearing this, the gods agreed she should only be allowed to marry a mortal. It was decided she should marry Peleus. She wasn’t thrilled by this plan, and, being a divinity of the sea, she was able to shapeshift. She turned herself into many things to try to hide, but eventually she was subdued and married Peleus. She wanted their son Achilles to have immortality, and her attempts to make him immortal caused the breakdown of their marriage. However, she continued to do all she could to aid Achilles throughout his life (Grimal, 453). Peleus :  Peleus is a Gree