Questions for Introduction to the Aeneid

1) How was Vergil perceived in Roman antiquity, the Christian Middle Ages and in the Renaissance?  How has the Aeneid be received and interpreted since the Renaissance? 

2) Where and when was Vergil born?  With what powerful individuals does Virgil become connected? 

3) What were the Eclogues?  When were they written? What is their subject matter and genre? 

4) To whom were the Georgics dedicated and when were they composited? What was their subject matter? 

5) When and under what circumstances does Virgil begin to compose the Aeneid?   To what genre does the work belong?  Discuss the circumstances of Vergil’s death and the state of the Aeneid at his death in 19 B.C. 

6) What impact did the civil wars have on Virgil’s native Cisalpine Gaul and how did the events of this period shape Vergil and his work?   Discuss in detail Vergil’s relationship with Augustus.  What vision for Rome does Williams suggest that both Vergil and Augustus shared? 

7) For what reason does Vergil chose the Aeneas legend as the subject and hero of his epic poem? Answer in detail.   What is an aetiology?  How was Vergil able to adapt the legend to his own poetic purposes? 

8) Discuss Vergil approach to the Iliad and Odyssey as the main literary antecedents for his Aeneid?  What elements of these work influence Vergil the most?  Answer in detail. 

9) How and where does Greek tragedy influence Vergil Epic? 

10) What themes does Vergil seem to take from Apollonius Rhodius’ Argonautica? 

11) How is Ennius’ literary achievement influence Vergil’s epic? 

12) Who are Lucretius and Catullus and how have their works influenced Vergil? 

13) Outline and learn the events and narrative of each of the Aeneid’s 12 books. 

14) What is the chronological relationship between the death of Turnus and foundation of Rome by Romulus? 

15) In what ways may the overall structure of the 12 books of the Aeneid be thematically interpreted or divided? Discuss in detail. 

16) According to William’s what tensions dominate the Aeneid? Discuss each in detail. 

17) How does Vergil’s view of the supernatural powers differ from that of Homer?  In what ways does Roman Stoic philosophy influence the epic?