Virgil The Art Of Imitating Homer Essay

, Research Paper

Oprah, Uma. Uma, Oprah. 1 Homer, Virgil. Virgil, Homer. The Aeneid, the greatest Latin

epic of the battles and wanderings of the Trojan hero, Aeneas, and his founding of the ruling line

for the Roman Empire was written by the great Latin poet Virgil. Or so it seems. When one is

reading the Aeneid and has also read both Homeric epics, one can almost instantly see many

parallels between Homer and Virgil. Not only are there parallels in the actual style of writing,

but the most prominent parallels come in the aspects of structure, events, and characterization.

The Aeneid is, in actuality, … a structural and thematic reworking of both epics of Homer. 2

The Aeneid is clearly modeled in the beginning after the Odyssey while in the end it is modeled

after the Iliad. The happenings and actions of Aeneas are very similar to both those of Odysseus

and later of Achilles. Many of the characters themselves are also modeled after Homer s

characters. There are also many little details here and there which show that Virgil certainly

modeled his epic after Homer, not to plagiarize, but for the style and the use of a model for

human insight and feeling. When reading the Aeneid, one can clearly see and hear the Homeric

echoes present in the epic.

The Aeneid is clearly divided into two parts, The Odyssean Aeneid 3 and, The

Iliadic Aeneid. 4 The first six books are based on the Odyssey while the last six books are

based on the Iliad. To clearly see that Virgil was indeed basing his working on Homer, let us

examine the Homeric echoes that are present in the first half, or the Odyssean Aeneid. The first

parallel that presents itself is the immediate situation of Aeneas and his ships. Just as Odysseus

and his crew were lost after the end of the Trojan War, so too are Aeneas and his crew. Just like

Odysseus was battered by a storm and almost killed after leaving Calypso s island5, so too are

Aeneas ships being battered by a storm set on by Juno. The general situation is the clear

parallel, however. Not only the storm, but the fact that Aeneas and his ships are wandering lost

for many years and at the mercy of a vengeful god, and the fact that they will eventually land on

a friendly shore just like Odysseus landed on the Phaeacian shore6, is almost an exact replica of

Odysseus situation in the Odyssey. When Aeneas arrives on Carthaginian soil, he, just like

Odysseus did when he arrived in Phaeacia7, tells the story of how he arrived and under what

circumstances8 both told in rousing flashbacks. Another similarity to the Odyssey are the

contests and games. While in the land of the Phaeacians, Odysseus participates in the contests

there9, while Aeneas holds similar contests to honor the death of his father Anchises10. Just as

Aeneas leaves the land of the Carthaginians, Dido places a curse on him similar to the one

Polyphemus places on Odysseus when she says, … I hope and pray that on some grinding reef/

Midway at sea you ll drink your punishment/ And call and call on Dido s name! 11 This leads to

perhaps the most obvious parallel between the Odyssey and the Aeneid, the visits to the

underworlds12. Just like in the Odyssey where Odysseus receives advice on how he should

proceed to get himself home, here too does Aeneas receive advice on how he should get to Italy

and how he will have to fight a bloody war with the inhabitants there upon his arrival. Just as

Odysseus meets the souls of people he knew, so too does Aeneas as he meets Dido, Palinurus,

and his father Anchises. The fact that he does leave Carthage raises a very subtle echo between

Homer and Virgil, the rejection of happiness or immediate luxury in exchange for the struggle

for something much better. In the Odyssey, Odysseus rejects happiness and luxury with

Nausicaa, Circe, and Calypso to struggle and perhaps even die to return home to his own wife.

So too does Aeneas reject happiness and luxury with Dido, even though he is truly in love with

her, to struggle and wage war on a foreign land to found an empire for his future descendants.

Besides the Homeric echoes to the Odyssey, the last half of the Aeneid is an echo of

Homer’s Iliad. It is indeed after Book VI that Virgil turned, “… to the Iliad and modeled his last

six books on Homer’s tragic poem of war.”13 The first obvious parallel here is the presence of a

major war. In the Iliad the war is between the Greeks and the Trojans, while in the Aeneid, the

battle is between the Trojans and the Latins led by Turnus. Both battles are reminiscent of each

other as being fought by large enemies and being especially violent and gruesome. There is even

a siege that occurs similar to the Greeks storming the city fortress of sacred Ilion when the Latins

try to storm the Trojan ramparts. One obvious similarity is the calling of a truce and the choosing

of the two champions to decide the war14. In the Iliad it is Paris and Menelaus who are to fight

and decide the war while in

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