Study Guide for Vergil's Aeneid

• Listen to Aeneid 4 in Latin.
• www.virgil.org
• Joseph Farrell's Pagina domestica P. Vergili Maronis at the University of Pennsylvania.
• Shirley Werner's Bibliographic Guide to Vergil's Aeneid.
• John Dryden's translation of The Aeneid

Discussion Questions for Vergil's Aeneid

Books 1-2

• Compare the opening lines of the Aeneid to the opening lines of the Iliad and/or the Odyssey.  Can you identify any similarities or differences?
• What kind of hero is Aeneas?  How do his actions compare to those of Gilgamesh, Achilles, and Hector?  In what ways is his situation similar to or different from that of the other heroes?
• In what ways is the Aeneid a retelling of Homer's epic poems?  In what ways is it not?
• What does Carthage look like?  What does Aeneas see when he enters the city?  How does he respond to what he sees?
• How is Aeneas received by Dido?  
• How does Aeneas describe the Trojan War?  How has he been affected by it?
• What do Aeneas's actions during the sack of Troy suggest about his character?
• How does Aeneas remove his father from Troy as it burns?  Is there a symbolic significance to this?

Book 4

• What is Dido's role in the Aeneid?  How does she compare with the female characters we encountered in Homer and Aeschylus?
• Why is Dido reluctant to reveal her love to Aeneas?  Is there more than love at stake here, for both Dido and Aeneas?
• Is Aeneas in love with Dido?  How do you know?
• How would you characterize Aeneas's behavior towards Dido after Mercury reminds him of his obligation to go to Italy?  Who behaves in a more dignified manner, Aeneas or Dido?
• What role have the gods played in the affair of Dido and Aeneas?  

Book 6

• Why does Aeneas visit the underworld in Book 6?
• What does the underworld look like?
• Who does Aeneas meet in the underworld?  
• What does Anchises tell Aeneas about the future of Rome?  How does he tell him to behave when he conquers the native Italians?

• What is depicted on the shield of Aeneas?  
• Compare Homer's description of the shield of Achilles to Vergil's description of the shield of Aeneas.
• How would you characterize Aeneas's treatment of Magus, Mezentius, and Lausus?  Does Aeneas's behavior in this episode change the way you feel about his character?  Does it cause you to think about his mission in a different way?
• Compare Homer's description of the death of Hector to Vergil's description of the death of Turnus.  
• Compare the ending of the Aeneid to the ending of the Iliad. 
• In what ways is the Aeneid a work of propaganda that supports Rome under Augustus?  Is it possible that it also undermines the ideals of Augustan Rome?  At the end of the poem Aeneas has conquered his enemy, he will establish the settlement that will eventually become Rome under Augustus, the descendent of his son Ascanius (Iulus, cf. Julius, as in Julius Caesar, Augustus's adoptive uncle), and everyone from Gibraltar to the Levant will live happily ever after under the pax Romana.  But what has Aeneas sacrificed in order to achieve this?  Is it worth it?