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I'm reading the Aeneid right now, the Fitzgerald translation, right now. It's good but the poetry isn't as enthralling as I found the Iliad and the Odyssey. On
by bcbrown 9y ago
I'm reading the Aeneid right now, the Fitzgerald translation, right now. It's good but the poetry isn't as enthralling as I found the Iliad and the Odyssey.
One aspect I found really interesting was how Virgil was claiming Trojan heritage for Rome. I don't think that claim has any factual basis, but I haven't researched it. Another interesting aspect is how it's a vehicle for promoting religious and cultural behavioral norms. Occasionally Virgil steps out of the narrative briefly to praise or condemn someone for following or breaking behavioral norms.
- briga 9y agoWell it was basically a piece of propaganda for the Roman government. A really beautiful piece of propaganda, but propaganda nonetheless. The Trojan heritage of Rome isn't true in fact, but it certainly has some truth metaphorically. Rome was always an heir to Hellenic culture and nowhere is this more evident than in Roman art. Homer was the pinnacle of artistic achievement at that point in history, so it made sense for Virgil to model his poem on the Greek epics.
- B1FF_PSUVM 9y ago> how Virgil was claiming Trojan heritage for Rome I believe that was a 'gens Julia' thing, they claimed the pious Aeneas (carried his father out of burning Troy) and the goddess Venus as ancestors. Makes sense, given that the head Julian (Octavian Augustus) was paying for the advertising ...
- cafard 9y agoIndeed. The reputations of Virgil and Homer rise and sink relative to each other periodically. I guess that a scholar of these matters could say what factors cause this. Virgil seems to have had the greater reputation during the Enlightenment--does his stock rise when society feels a greater attraction to order, and Homer's when the order gets to feel burdensome?