Roman Culture and Society
Spring Term
Seminar 3 worksheet - Virgil's Aeneid
You should have read the Aeneid over the Winter vacation: having gained an
overall impression of the epic, your task now is to develop expert knowledge
of particular sections, think about the ways in which they might be seen to
interact, become familiar with the range of possible interpretative
approaches to the poem, and start to put some of those reading strategies into
practice. For this seminar, students will be divided into two equal groups:
the first group will split into three panels, each of which will be asked to
give a short, 7-8 minute presentation (topics below), while the second group
will make up the ‘audience’, using their own preparation as the basis on
which to respond to the presentations: their role is to ask questions, offer
further comment and open up debate. [nb: you should consult with each
other to make sure each panel offers a different topic for presentation].
Most of you are also studying Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey during GCS. If
these texts are new to you, however, you are advised to speed-read the
following before the seminar:
Iliad Books 1, 6, 9, 16-18, 22-24; Odyssey Books 1, 6-8, 11, 13.
If you haven't already, it is essential to buy copies of the Aeneid, Iliad, and
Odyssey in translation (the introductions to many of these translations are
also worth reading). Bring these along to the seminar.
Recommended Translations (personal favourites *):
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
David West, Virgil The Aeneid (Penguin Classics 1991) [PA 6807 A5]
C. Day Lewis, The Aeneid of Virgil (Hogarth Press 1961) [PA 6807 A5]
* R.Fitzgerald, Virgil The Aeneid (Penguin Classics 1990) [PA 6807.A5]
R. Lattimore, The Iliad of Homer (Univ of Chicago Press, 1961)
*E.V.Rieu, Homer The Iliad (Penguin Classics; revised ed. 2003) [PA 4025. A2]
*E.V. Rieu, Homer The Odyssey (Penguin Classics; revised ed.1991) [PA 4025. A5]
W. Shewring, Homer The Odyssey (Oxford World Classics 1980)
R. Lattimore, The Odyssey of Homer (New York, Perennial Classics 1999)
John Dryden's celebrated verse translation is available online at Perseus.
The Loeb translations are useful if you know some Latin and/or Greek and may want to
refer across to the Latin from English translations for particular words.
1 Before attending the seminar, you should have read the short books by
Griffin (Homer - PA 4037.G7 - Past Masters series) and Hardie (Virgil.
Greece and Rome New Surveys in the Classics 28, esp. pp53-101 – PA 6825.
H2), plus as much as possible from the consolidation reading list for
Lecture 2 (‘Refounding Rome: Virgil’s Aeneid).
Some big issues
During the seminar, we will inevitably touch on the following key issues and
questions which were introduced in Lecture 2. You should also keep them in
mind as you prepare:
• Virgil’s interaction with Homer. Think in terms of structure, poetics,
narrative frames, symbols, images, themes, the construction of the
epic hero, and representation of the gods. We will be alert to how the
Aeneid’s interaction with Homeric epic creates layers of meaning and
drama, and activates the contrasting values or cultural codes of
Augustan Rome.
• How Virgil intermeshes the heroic and (Roman) historical past. Or in
other words, how important is Virgil's contemporary world for
understanding his poem? Does the war in Latium continually threaten
to collapse into civil war? How can we approach the (Augustan)
politics of the poem, and how close does the poem get doing the work
of propaganda? How provocative is the ending?
• Love and war, men and women. Is it true to say that the voice of
triumph and domination in this poem is male, while the voice of
suffering and defeat is female? How does the Aeneid define, or
redefine, male heroism? What is at stake in placing the passionate and
tragic love affair between Dido and Aeneas at the centre of the poem?
To what extent is the foundation of Rome contingent on destroying
what Dido represents? Is this part of what makes the Aeneid a ‘classic’
text in the Western literary tradition?
Each ‘panel’ should choose 1 topic from those listed below for their
collective 7-8 minute presentation (there will be 3 presentations in all), and
read all the recommended bibliography for that topic. The ‘audience’ should
read all four passages and 1-2 items of secondary bibliography from each
topic. Everyone should come with notes, plus thoughts and some sketchedout questions.
2 Topic 1. Blast Off: The Opening of the Aeneid
Start by reading the opening of the Aeneid (lines 1-156) alongside the beginnings of the
Odyssey and the Iliad.
Questions
• How does the opening of the Aeneid (1.1-35) compare with the opening sections
of Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad? What are the similarities and differences?
• Does the opening of the Aeneid have any political significance? (Consider
especially the simile at 1.148-53, and the function of the storm in general.)
Secondary reading
• Anderson, W.S. (1990) ‘Virgil’s Second Iliad’, chapter 12 in Oxford Readings in
Vergil’s Aeneid, ed. S.J. Harrison. Oxford = P. Hardie Virgil. Critical
Assessments of Classical Authors (1999) ch. 43
• Austin, R.G. (1971) P.Vergili Maronis Aeneidos Liber Primus. A Commentary. Oxford
(read the introduction and the commentary on lines 1-156).
• Gransden, K. (1990) Virgil. The Aeneid (Landmarks of World Literature), ch.2.
• Kennedy, D.F. (1997) ‘Modern receptions and their interpretative implications’ and
‘Virgilian epic’ in C.Martindale (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Virgil.
Cambridge, pp38-55, and 145-154.
• Donatus, Life of Virgil = LACTOR 17 The Age of Augustus, ed. M.G.L. Cooley, R15.
• Hardie, P. (1986) Virgil’s Aeneid. Cosmos and Imperium. Oxford. (‘The storm in
Aeneid 1’, pp.90-97).
• Pöschl, V. (1962) The Art of Vergil. Image and Symbol in the Aeneid. Ann Arbor.
pp.13-24.
• Staley, G.A. (1990) ‘Aeneas’ first act’ Classical World 84: 25-38. [Available on
JSTOR].
• Williams, R.D. (1990) ‘The purpose of the Aeneid’, chapter 2 in Oxford Readings in
Vergil’s Aeneid, ed. S.J. Harrison. Oxford.
Topic 2. Lust and/or War: Responses to Dido
Start by reading Aeneid Books 1, 4, and 6.450-476.
Questions
• What are the main literary and historical prototypes for the character of Dido, and
what impact do these models have on our reading of book 4?
• ‘The death of Dido emerges as a requirement for Aeneas’ foundation of the
Roman cultural order’ (Keith, p115). What exactly is being killed off
symbolically when Dido dies?
Secondary reading
• Burden, M. (1998) A Woman Scorn'd. Responses to the Dido Myth. London. [PN
57.D43]
• Feeney, D. (1990) ‘The taciturnity of Aeneas’, chapter 8 in Oxford Readings in
Vergil’s Aeneid, ed. S.J. Harrison. Oxford = P. Hardie Virgil. Critical
Assessments of Classical Authors (1999) ch.48
3 • Horsfall, N. (1990) ‘Dido in the Light of History’, chapter 6 in Oxford Readings in
Vergil’s Aeneid, S.J. Harrison (ed.). Oxford.
• Keith, A. (2000) Engendering Rome. Women in Latin Epic. Cambridge. Read the
introduction (pp.1-7, and follow the index refs. to ‘Dido’).
• Meucke, F. (1983) ‘Foreshadowing and dramatic irony in the story of Dido’ American
Journal of Philology 104: 134-55. [Available on JSTOR].
• Panoussi, V. (2009) Greek Tragedy in Vergil’s “Aeneid”. Cambridge, pp.45-56
(‘Dido’s ritual slaughter’).
• Spence, S. (1999) ‘varium et mutabile: voices of authority in Aeneid 4’ in C.Perkell
(ed.) Reading Vergil’s Aeneid. An Interpretative Guide. 80-95.
• Rudd, N.(1990) ‘Dido’s culpa’, chapter 7 in Oxford Readings in Vergil’s Aeneid, S.J.
Harrison (ed.). Oxford
• Wlosok, A. (1999) 'The Dido tragedy in Virgil', in P. Hardie Virgil. Critical
Assessments of Classical Authors, ch. 70
Topic 3. Fashioning History: The Shield of Aeneas
Start by reading Aeneid 8, especially lines 617-731, then read the description of the
Shield of Achilles in Homer Iliad 18.428-617.
Questions
• Outline the main features of Homer's Shield of Achilles, and of Virgil's Shield of
Aeneas.
• What does it matter that the description of the shield follows events in
chronological sequence, and why is it important or significant that we visualize
Roman history here as a picture?
Secondary reading
• Barchiesi, A. (1997) ‘Virgilian narrative: ecphrasis’ in C.Martindale (ed.) The
Cambridge Companion to Virgil. Cambridge, pp271-81.
• Casali, S. (2006) ‘The making of the shield: inspiration and repression in the Aeneid’
Greece and Rome 53: 185-204. [Available on JSTOR].
• Gransden, K. (1976) Virgil Aeneid VIII. Cambridge [PA 6803.B8]
• Gurval, R.A. (1995) Actium and Augustus. The Politics and Emotions of Civil War.
Ann Arbor, pp.209-47.
• Hardie, P. (1986) Virgil’s Aeneid. Cosmos and Imperium. Oxford, pp.97-110, 120-5,
336-76.
• Harrison, S.J. (1997) 'The survival and supremacy of Rome: the unity of the shield of
Aeneas', Journal of Roman Studies 87: 70-76 [online at JSTOR]
• McKay, A (1998) ‘non enarrabile textum? The shield of Aeneas and the triple triumph
of 29 BC’ In Stahl, H.P. Augustan Epic and Political Context. London, 199-221.
• Taplin, O. (1980) 'The Shield of Achilles within the 'Iliad' Greece and Rome 27: 1-21.
[Available on JSTOR].
• West, D.A.(1990) ‘Cernere erat: The Shield of Aeneas’, chapter 15 in S.J.Harrison
(ed.) Oxford Readings in Vergil’s Aeneid. Oxford.
4 4. Foundation as Revenge: The End
Start by reading Aeneid 10.426-509 and the whole of book 12, focusing especially on
lines 919-952, together with Iliad 22-24.
Questions
• Start by comparing Virgil’s ending with Homer’s ending in the Iliad, then look at
Aen.12.919-52 alongside Iliad 22.321-60, 24.485-506.
• Is it possible to reconcile ‘optimistic’ and ‘pessimistic’ readings of the
sacrifice/murder of Turnus?
Secondary reading
• Barchiesi, A. (2015) ‘The death of Turnus’ in Barchiesi Homeric Effects in
Vergil’s Narrative. Princeton, pp.69-93.
• Cucchiarelli, A. (2002) ‘A note on Vergil Aen.12.941-3’ Classical Quarterly
52:620-2. [Available on JSTOR].
• Galinksy, K. (1988) ‘The anger of Aeneas’ American Journal of Philology 109:
321-48. [Available on JSTOR].
• Putnam, M.C.J. (1995) ‘The hesitation of Aeneas’ in Putnam (1995) Virgil’s
Aeneid. Interpretation and Influence. 152-171.
• Putnam, M.C.J. (2011) The Humanness of Heroes: Studies in the Conclusion of
Virgil’s Aeneid. Amsterdam, pp.11-17 (intro) and 102-117.
• Stahl, H.P. (1990) ‘The death of Turnus: Augustan Vergil and the Political Rival’
in Raaflaub and Toher (eds.) Between Republic and Empire. 174-211
• Tarrant, R. (2012) Virgil: Aeneid Book XII. Cambridge, pp.1-30 (intro) and
commentary on lines 919-52 (pp327-41).
• Theodorakopoulos, E. (1997) ‘Closure: the book of Virgil’ in C.Martindale (ed.)
The Cambridge Companion to Virgil. Cambridge, 155-165.
• West, D. (1974) ‘The deaths of Hector and Turnus’ Greece and Rome 21: 21-31.
[Available on JSTOR].
5