THE AENEID: LITERARY BACKGROUND
Vergil & Homer
"Primary" vs. "Secondary" Epic
General Conventions
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Meter (dactylic hexameter)
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Invocation ("Sing to me, Muse ...")
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"Divine apparatus"
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Epic similes ("Just as ... So ...")
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Epic formulae (e.g. Pius Aeneas)
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Type-scenes (e.g. sunrise, sacrifice)
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Ecphrasis: extended description
Homer, Odyssey -> Bks. I-VI
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Hostility of Juno (cf. Poseidon in Od.)
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Odyssean wanderings (esp. III)
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Flashback (II-III, cf. Od. 9-12)
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Descent to underworld (VI, cf. Od. 11)
Homer, Iliad -> Bks VII-XII
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Battle-scenes
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Funeral Games (V, cf. Il. 22)
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Epic catalogue (VII, cf. Il. 2)
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Description of shield (VIII, cf. Il. 18)
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Aeneas/Turnus <-> Hector/Achilles
Other influences
Apollonius of Rhodes (3d c.), Argonautica
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4 Book epic on Jason & Golden Fleece
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Jason/Medea —> Aeneas/Dido
Naevius (c. 210), Punic War
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Fragmentary epic on First Punic War
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Primitive verse form (not hexameter)
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Aeneas in mythological prologue/digression
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Dido mentioned (how?)
Ennius (d. 168), Annals
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18 books on Roman history, 753-171 BC
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Adaptation of hexameter to Latin
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Model for phrases, scenes (e.g. Ilia/Dido)
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