Nathan Kendricks
Professor Marshall Johnston
Ancient Civilizations
7 December 2018
Ancient Rome
While discussing Ancient Rome and Roman history, it is important to take note of Virgil and the Aeneid. Virgil was a Roman poet who wrote the epic the Aeneid around 30-19 BC. The Aeneid is about Aeneas, a Trojan who fled Troy to Italy when Troy was destroyed. His purpose was to gather other Trojans who survived the destruction and establish Rome. Aeneas and the other survivors would later become the ancestors of the Romans. The Aeneid can be compared to other epics such as the Odyssey and the Iliad by Homer. The Odyssey and the Iliad were both written by Homer around the late eight century. The Odyssey is focused on the character of Odysseus and how his son, Telemachus, goes on a journey to find him. It gives a small background story about Odysseus and shows how his character changes throughout the epic, while his son, Telemachus’s goes on a journey to find him. The Iliad is focused on Achilles and his anger towards Agamemnon for taking his war prize. It displays Achilles’s character by showing how he responds to adversity and things not going his way. The Aeneid, the Iliad, and the Odyssey all have many similarities and differences that reflect what life was like. All three epics reveal a lot about the main character and display a lot of their many characteristics. Most importantly, the three epics can all show what culture, society, economy was like in their respected origins, Greek and Roman.
The main characteristic that all of the characters share is their ability to be great warriors and their respect for the gods. In the Aeneid, Aeneas has a fate that he has to fulfill. In order to fulfill his fate, Aeneas has to successfully complete his journey from Troy to Italy to become the ancestor of the Romans. During his journey, he goes through many trials and tribulations that bring out his true character. Aeneas has a great deal of respect for the gods and their will. He tries his hardest not to displease them and impress them with everything he does. Because of this, Aeneas can also be very compassionate and sorrowful. Aeneas is also a very fierce warrior that has no fear. This allows him to be a good leader to the other survivors of Troy that he has to lead. He also doesn’t flinch at adversity, he just strives to be better. This is similar to the characteristics of Odysseus. Odysseus does not wish to displease the gods, but some of them dislike him such as Poseidon. While journeying home for the first time, Poseidon attempted to drown Odysseus at sea. Odysseus is also a great warrior. There are many stories about Odysseus and his courageousness in battle. He is one of the most well known and well respected warriors at his home. Achilles is also a great warrior like Odysseus and Aeneas. He is referred to as the greatest Achaean warrior to ever exist. Achilles always fights for his honor and takes great offense when his honor is disrespected. Because of this, Achilles goes to war against Agamemnon, the Achaean king, to get his war prize back. However, Achilles is also very uncaring and cold hearted. An example of this characteristic would be when he played Hector. Between the characters in the epics that Homer wrote, Aeneas is more similar to Odysseus. Aeneas is more similar to Odysseus because they are both very wise. They are also both very good leaders.
Aeneas’s characteristics can give an insight of what Roman culture was like because he was the main ancestor of the Roman people. Aeneas is dedicated to his own fate and chooses that over all of his wants or needs. Part of this is because of his piety, which is his devotion to the gods. From these characteristics, it is fair to say that Rome and Roman culture was based upon dedication to the gods and following fate. Aeneas’s mother, Venus, was a goddess herself. Jupiter, the king of the gods, also controls fate and upholds destiny. The Romans were polytheistic and worshiped their many gods and goddesses in their every day life. They built temples and altars specifically for honoring the gods. To please the gods, the Romans offered animal sacrifices to them. The Roman cultural beliefs were similar to the Greek cultural beliefs. The Greeks also believed in many gods and goddesses and saw it important to please them. Like the Romans, the Greeks were also polytheistic in their beliefs. They made daily sacrifices to the gods in order to keep them happy. They also had worship places such as temples because of how important their worship was. Like humans, the Greeks believed that the gods had egos of their own too. If sacrifices to the gods were not made, then the gods would get angry and start to interfere with human life. An example of this would be when Poseidon didn't let Odysseus return home because he was angry at him for killing his son. Because of this, Odysseus sacrificed the ram and ewe to Poseidon in hopes to make him happy and make up for killing his son.
Aeneas’s characteristics can also give knowledge on what Roman civilization was like. Roman civilization had a basic social structure. With their high respect for the gods, the Roman social structure consisted of gods at the top, then the rulers, the warriors, the middle class, and at the bottom were the working class and the poor. Everybody respected the and honored the gods, no matter what social class they were in. Rulers even made sacrifices to the gods and feared displeasing them. The warriors in society were regarded highly because they were very honorable for fighting. The lower class and poor people in Roman society would sometimes work as slaves because they had noting. The Greeks had similar beliefs as the Romans and therefore had a similar social structure as them. The Greek social structure also consisted of gods at the top, then the rulers, the warriors, the middle class, and at the bottom, the working class and the poor. Like the Romans, all people in Greek society respected and worshipped the gods no matter what social class they were in. Another similarity in society that the Romans and Greeks shared was how women were treated and viewed. In the Aeneid, women are seen as helping guide Aeneas on his journey to Italy. Although they are displayed this way in the epic, women in Roman society were not highly regarded at all. Women in Greek society were also not highly regarded at all. This can be seen in the Iliad as Achilles and Agamemnon claim women as prizes of war. Although Achilles went to war against Agamemnon over the woman he received as a war prize, he didn’t care about the woman, but he cared about his pride and did not appreciate Agamemnon taking what was rightfully his. Another example of women in Greek society would be Penelope in the Odyssey. Because Odysseus was missing, the suitors in his home were trying to force Penelope to marry one of them, even though she was married to Odysseus. The suitors were relentless and did not listen to anything Penelope said even though they were in her home.
The Roman economy can also be interpreted from the events of the Aeneid. At the time, Troy had just been destroyed and Aeneas was being called upon to lead the survivors away. Aeneas would later lead the survivors to Italy and establish Rome. Aeneas and the survivors had nothing, since Troy had been destroyed, so Rome was established economically weak and had to grow from nothing. Rome would later rely on agriculture and trade in order to be economically stable. The Greek economy was also weak at the time because they were often at war. As seen in the Odyssey, when Odysseus was trying to return home, the Trojan War took a toll on the economy. Damaged from war, the Greeks had to rely on imported goods to maintain a balanced economy.
The epics from both Virgil and Homer can teach a lot about the Romans and Greeks. Although each epic had a different story, the Romans and Greeks had many similarities. From the Aeneid, the Odyssey, and the Iliad, we can learn about how the Romans and Greeks lived daily in society, how they viewed culture, and what their economy was like.
References
Homer, and Peter Green. The Iliad. University of California Press, 2016.
Homer. The Odyssey. CSS Books, 2018.
Virgil, and David Ferry. The Aeneid. The University of Chicago Press, 2017.