Lecture 19

Question 1

Aeneas and Hellen

Answer 1

• Sees Helen and is enraged and decides he’s going to kill her
• Venus steps in and stops him
• says it’s not humans, Greeks, humans, who caused this war and Troy to fall but the gods.
• Let’s him see all the Gods destroying troy
• Doesn’t want her son killing Helen because she’s one of the favorites
• Says think of your family and this distracts him from his rage and he goes back home to save his family (father, wife, and son)
• Resembles Achilles

Question 2

Aeneas family’s escape from Troy

Answer 2

• Carries his father
• leads his son by the hand
• his father carries statues that represent the gods of Troy to take to Rome
• Wife follows behind and doesn’t make it out of Troy
• Patriarchal Roman family (Grandfather, Father, Son-3 generations)
• this escape demonstrates his piety toward his family and nation

Question 3

Book 3

Answer 3

• sea wanderings (7 years)
• bad things keep happening
• learns he has to go to Italy

Question 4

Dido’s Feelings

Answer 4

-Dido falls in love with Aeneas as he tells his story
-Partly cupid’s fault
-At first she resists
-Dido had to flee Tyre cause her brother (Pygmalion) killed her husband (Sychaeus) for his money
A woman who was only married once had a special status so she didn’t initially want to accept her feelings for Aeneas
-Anna, her sister, encourages her to love Aeneas

Question 5

Univira

Answer 5

-woman who has only had one husband

Question 6

Juno and Venus’ plan

Answer 6

plan to marry Aeneas to Dido so Aeneas won’t found Rome

• Juno’s plan but Venus goes along with it because she doesn’t think it’s going to work. Jupiter already reassured her of Aeneas’ fate
• Marriage boils down to them getting caught together in a cave and they have sex apparently that means they’re married.

Question 7

Result of Plan

Answer 7

-relationship depicted as a bad thing for Carthage because Dido is ignoring her duties as a leader and is focused on lust

Question 8

Why does Virgil choose to involve Aeneas with an African queen?

Answer 8

-sets up the conflict between the western and Mediterranean powers and also brings up Cleopatra

Question 9

Cleopatra VII Philopator

Answer 9

• last (Greek) pharaoh of Egypt
• Member of the Ptolemaic Dynasty: Descendent of one of Alexander the Great’s generals (Northern Greek heritage)
• Lover of Julius Caesar and Marc Antony
• Known for her intelligence
• Civil war between Antony and Augustus presented by Augustus as a war against Egypt and Cleopatra
• Killed herself to prevent being taken prisoner by Augustus

Question 10

Dido vs Aeneas

Answer 10

-whos side do you take see these notes if essay question