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Virgil and Homer -- World Literature
The Trojan Legacy: Textual Similarities in the Epics Iliad by Homer and Aeneid by Virgil
In the study of world literature, it is essential that one must know about the earliest forms of literature, especially the works of Homer and Virgil. Homer, considered one of the greatest literary writers of Greek literature, was said to have composed his great epic poems, Iliad and Odyssey, during 8 B.C. He is well-known for his effective depiction of early Greek life, where the interplay between mortals and immortals and the inevitable Fate were discussed. Homer's legacy as chronicler of Greek history, society, and culture helped influence Virgil, who composed the Aeneid in 19 B.C. Using some of Homer's themes, characters, and some parts of the plot in the Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil created the Aeneid, which also gained popularity and acclaim as Homer's epic works.
This paper discusses similarities...
These similarities include the use of themes and characters that have originally been used in Iliad, and borrowed then modified in the Aeneid.
The first similarity between Homer and Virgil's work is the adaptation and continuation of the 'Trojan legacy' that Homer started with his epic works. In the Iliad, Homer's story revolves around tenth year of the Trojan War, wherein the Trojan heroes and their lives were given focus, as well as the defeat of the Trojans from the Achaeans. In Aeneid, Virgil adapted the Trojan-Achaean story, but instead focused on a minor character, Aeneas, as his protagonist. As one of the Trojan heroes, Aeneas, like Odysseus in the Odyssey, was given focus, as he became the leader of the lost Trojan heroes.
Apart from adapting the Trojan theme, Virgil also used the theme of prophecy to illustrate the…
Works Cited
Homer. Iliad. Translated by Samuel Butler. Available at http://www.uoregon.edu/~joelja/iliad.html.
Virgil. Aeneid. Available at http://www.uoregon.edu/~joelja/aeneid.html.
Nevertheless, both heroes are very similar in their characterizations: they are both human and are subject to the whims of the gods. Odysseus confides his most troubling mistake: "From the start my companions spoke to men and begged me to take some of the cheeses, come back again, and the next time to drive the lambs and kids from their pens, and get back quickly to the ship again, and
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Dante's Inferno And The Heroic Quest Like Homer's "The Odyssey," and "The Iliad," Dante's "The Inferno" begins with a kind of god's eye view of the world. However, rather than the gods looking down and squabbling about the morality of humans they see, Dante begins with his hero's face-to-face encounter with the divine, or at least a representative of the divine, the pagan poet Virgil. Virgil will be the poet's first