Reading Questions: Aeneid 1-2

Note: This poem is set in the same “world” and at about the same point in time as The Odyssey is
—the aftermath of the Trojan War—although it focuses on the Trojans rather than the Greeks.
The Pantheon of gods is basically the same, and there are some crossover characters from the
Odyssey, but they have different (Latin rather than Greek) names. Here’s a cheat sheet (and you
can also make use of the index at the back of the book, beginning on p. 424):

Zeus=Jupiter or Jove
Hera=Juno
Athena=Minerva
Aphrodite=Venus
Poseidon=Neptune
Ares=Mars
Hermes=Mercury
And, importantly, Odysseus=Ulysses

Throughout your reading, be on the lookout for allusions to the Odyssey—scenes, moments,
situations, characters, and speeches that remind you of the other poem.

Book 1

1. Compare the proem of this poem (lines 1-13) to the proem in the Odyssey. What is the similar
and what is different? What will this epic focus on? Is the proem raising a question or problem
the way the Odyssey’s proem did?

2. Why is Juno angry with the Trojans?

3. What does Aeneas’ speech to his people reveal about him?

4. What, apparently, is the will of Zeus for the fugitive Trojans (304-355)?

5. What “calm[s] [Aeneas’] fears / for the first time” (543-4) and gives him hope in his destiny?
Why?

6. Why do you think that, after witnessing Aeneas’ warm welcome by the Tyrians, Venus feels
the need to ensure Queen Dido’s continued goodwill toward Aeneas by further action? And what
does she decide to do?

Book 2

1. We’ve heard before about the Trojan horse; but what new element of the Greeks’ deception
does Aeneas reveal in his story? What conquers the Trojans, whom ten years of direct attack
could not conquer?
2. Notice how Aeneas describes the gods at 326 and 529-37. Do you think he’s justified in his
bitterness? Is it more than bitterness—is it impiety?

3. How does Aeneas’ account of the fall of Troy add to or change the impression you had of the
characters in the Odyssey? How would you describe the relationship of Virgil’s poem to
Homer’s?

4. What does Venus open Aeneas’ eyes to see when she meets him in the city? What effect does
this vision have on him?

5. That image of Aeneas leaving the burning city, carrying his father, who is in turn carrying the
household gods, on his shoulder, holding his son by the hand, with his wife trailing (further and
further) behind, is famous. What does this image tell us about Aeneas, about the kind of hero he
is?