Virgil and Homer: comparative analysis of ancient epic poets

Virgil and Homer

Virgil's the Aeneid and Homer's the Odyssey represent two of antiquity's greatest and most lasting examples of epic poetry. Though written approximately seven centuries apart, both tales handle the aftermath of the same conflict, which was fought some four-hundred years before even Homer: the Trojan War. From Virgil's point-of-view, this was done deliberately; additionally, the vast similarities between the Aeneid and the Odyssey are purposeful as well. The Aeneid served a very tangible function during Virgil's time: it was his attempt at generating a concrete mythological basis for the history of Rome and, more specifically, for the rule of Caesar Augustus. These justifications rear themselves within the text: "This is the man you heard so often promised -- Augustus Caesar, son of a god, who will renew a golden age in Latium," (Virgil, 158). In this way, Aeneas emerges as a character analogous to Odysseus: they both leave Troy after the war and are subject to the forces as fate as they attempt to find a peaceful end.

The historical purpose that the Aeneid serves is explicitly stated in the opening lines of the poem: "I sing of arms and of a man: his fate had made him fugitive; he was the first to journey from the coasts of Troy as far as Italy and the Lavinian shores.... And many sufferings were his in war -- until he brought a city into being and carried in his gods to Latium; from this have come the Latin race, the lords of Alba, and the ramparts of high Rome." (Virgil, 20). Opposing the fleeing Aeneas and his fellow Trojans is the wrath of Juno -- queen of the gods. Accordingly, the story that Virgil organizes is exceedingly similar to the Odyssey; in which triumphant Odysseus attempts to return to Ithaca, despite acts of the divine -- Poseidon and Circe in particular.

It is noteworthy, however, that Aeneas is almost certainly a creation of Virgil alone; he represents Virgil's unique attempt at bringing the forces of mythology back into a lost history of the Roman people. Odysseus and Achilles' tales, on the other hand, were passed down to Homer by way of the Greek oral tradition -- they were not created out of thin air. As a result, it would seem that the events that Homer's works attempt to capture are at least somewhat based upon actual events; whereas the Aeneid is almost entirely the subject of Virgil's own imagination.

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 go off sailing across the salt water; but I would not listen to them," (Homer, 143). Despite the fact that Odysseus is responsible for the deaths of many of his men, once he manages to get them out of the predicament he still revels in his victory. So much so that he ends up exposing his identity to the Cyclops and opening himself and his men up to the retribution that the Cyclops' subsequent prayers to Poseidon incur. Similarly, Juno's anger towards Aeneas stems from a prophesy that foretells the destruction of Carthage at the hands of the Romans; also, she hates Trojans in general because Paris deemed Venus more beautiful. Consequently, Aeolus -- friend to Juno -- unleashes a storm upon Aeneas that prevents them from initially finding the cite of Rome.