The Story So Far…

What happens in Book Five?

Aeneas and the Trojans reach the home of their kin in Sicily. There they rest and Aeneas holds funeral games for his father Anchises, who died near the end of Book 3. The Trojans compete in a number of contests, including archery, ship races and boxing. After a brief holdup, when Juno tricks the Trojan women into burning their ships, Aeneas and the Trojans set off for the Italian coast. However, Aeneas loses his friend and helmsman Palinurus during the voyage.

Book VI- What

happened?

BOOK SIX – The Visit to the Underworld The Cumaen Sibyl –

prophecy and long life but not eternal youth.

Aeneas in Hades – looking frightened and rightly so.

                                                               

DAEDALUS’ STORY

A useful site: http://www.minotaur-websites.com/minomyth.htm

DAEDALUS’ STORY - SUMMARY

Explain the following quotes:

• “Athenians obeying the ghastly command.”

• “A warning against wicked love.”

• “Daedalus … had taken pity on the Princess Ariadne.”

• “O Icarus! … Daedalus had twice tried to express your fate.”

What are the key points?

• “I see war and all the horrors of war.”

• I see Tiber streaming with blood. You will find there a Simois and a Xanthus…”

• “…and a camp of Greeks, a new Achilles…”

• “Juno, the Trojan’s affliction, will never be far.”

• “You … will go begging to every city in Italy for aid.”

• “The cause of dire calamity for Trojans will be a wedding with a foreign bride.”

The Sibyl’s Prophecy (pp.149-150)

Aeneas will have to fight again.

Tiber = Roman river. Simois/Xanthus = Trojan rivers.

The Greeks = The Local Latins. New Achilles = Aeneas’opponent Turnus.

affliction = curse, disease.

Aeneas will need new allies.

Like Paris’ marriage to Helen, Aeneas’ marriage to Lavinia will cause a war.

Previous Trips to the UnderworldAeneas wants to descend to the Underworld to seek his

father Anchises’ advice. However, his descent is also included in the Aeneid to show that he is a match for previous heroes who have made the same trip.

Your task: Find out about each of the heroes and briefly summarise their journeys into the underworld.

Theseus Hercules Orpheus

Question: What tasks does the Sibyl tell Aeneas to complete before descending to Hades?

What do YOU think the Underworld might look like?

Draw your own map of the Underworld.Include the different places within the

Underworld and the people Aeneas meets. Also include WHY those people are where they are.

Be creative!

Crossing the River Styx

The Fields of Dead Warriors

The Journey through the Underworld

Patinir, 1521

Underworld Landscape with the River Styx

Key Quotes from Bk 6 so far…

• “He gave his fleet the rein and at last came smoothly to Euboean Cumae’s coast.

• “There he had depicted the Bull’s brutal passion…”• “You have passed through every peril on the sea,

but have to face still graver risk on land.”• “I also am descended from highest Jove.”• “Suddenly, they saw.. lifeless and dead, the Aeolid

Misenus.”• With dauntless pace Aeneas followed where she

led.”

Clockwise from top: Chimaera, Geryon, a Centaur, Hydra (Lerna’s Beast), Scylla, Harpies, the Gorgon Medusa

MONSTERS! (pp.155-6)

Crossing the River Styx (pp.156-159)

1. Who are Leucaspis and Orontes? Who is Palinurus? Why are these three unhappy?

2. How did Palinurus die? What does he ask of Aeneas?

3. Why is Charon unwilling to take Aeneas on board? What changes his mind?

Encounter with the Cerberus (p.159)

Q: How do Aeneas and the Sibyl get past the Cerberus?

Left and Below: Hercules and the Cerberus – ancient and modern

The Untimely Dead and the Fields of Mourning (pp.160-161)

Phaedra – loved Hippolytus (her step-son), commited suicide.

Procris – jealous wife, accidently killed by her husband while spying on him during a hunt.

Eriphyle – killed by her son Alcmaeon as revenge for her persuading her husband to fight a battle in which he was killed.

Evadne – Threw herself on her husband’s funeral pyre when he died in battle.

Pasiphae – mother of the Minotaur.

1. What themes do these stories have in common?

2. Why is Dido in their company?

3. Why is Sychaeus also there?

Tartarus, the Place of Punishment

The Tormented Souls in Tartarus (pp.164-5)Titans, Sons of Earth – Gods who ruled before Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto overthrew them.

Sons of Aloeus – Giants who attempted to overthrow the gods.

Salmoneus – Claimed equality with the gods.

Tityos – Attempted to rape Leto, mother of Apollo and Diana.

Lapithae – Tribe that included Ixion (attempted to rape Juno) and Pirithous (attempted to kidnap Proserpine with Theseus)

Phlegyas – Attacked Greeks at Apollo’s sanctuary at Delphi.

Tantalus – Invited the gods to a banquet that included his own son in the meal, supposedly to test the gods all-knowing nature.

1. What do these crimes have in common?

2. What other crimes are said to lead to punishment in Tartarus?

3. For what reasons do you think Virgil has included this description of Tartarus?

Elysium – the Land of Joy, the Fortunate Woods, the Homes

of the Blest, etc…(pp.166-174)

Anchises’ Prophecy (pp.170-174)

The Roman View of Life, Death and Rebirth (p.168-9)

In this important passage, Virgil outlines the Roman belief in the rebirth of souls. Briefly summarise this belief,

according to Anchises’ speeches on pages168-9.

Anchises’ Prophecy (pp.170-173)

“Come, I shall now explain to you your whole destiny.”

This long passage sees Anchises describing to Aeneas his whole line of descendants, covering over 1000 years of Roman History to come. The line of descendants stretches right through to the ‘present’ for Virgil, including Augustus “founder of the golden centuries”. This is political propaganda for Augustus and Rome. Rome’s Mission, we’re told, is to “guide the nations by your authority”, in other words civilise the world, through conquest.

Anchises’ Prophecy – Key Messages

• The Romans are descendants of the Trojans

• Aeneas will have a son by Lavinia

• Romulus is of Trojan descent (and the gods)

• Rome will conquer the world

• Augustus will bring a Golden Age to Rome

• Augustus will out-travel Hercules and Bacchus

• Kings will rule Rome, then the Republic will be established by a guy called Brutus

• Civil War will take place between Caesar and Pompey – this is ‘wicked’ and should never happen again.

Anchises’ Prophecy – Key Messages

• Romans should be merciful

• Rome will conquer Greece

• Rome will conquer Africa / Carthage

• Other races might be cleverer than the Romans…

• But the Romans’ skill is to bring peace to the world (through conquest) and to rule it.

• Marcellus (a nephew of Augustus) was ‘too mighty’ to succeed Augustus, so he died young, unlike a previous great Marcellus.

Augustus’ sister Octavia (mother of Marcellus) faints as Virgil reads the passage from Book VI concerning the death of her son.

The Death of Marcellus (pp.173-4)Two Marcelluses are mentioned at the end of Anchises’ Prophecy. One is a warrior who was victorious against Carthaginians and Gauls. The other Aeneas sees walking beside him, is also called Marcellus. This ‘young Marcellus’ was the Emperor Augustus’ nephew. The Emperor’s hopes that this Marcellus would eventually take over from him were dashed when Marcellus died of fever in 23BC, aged just 20. The mention of his death provides an unhappy counter to the glorious events and personalities that have been described in Anchises prophecy.

Thought: Why is young Marcellus not in the Hades of Untimely Deaths?

Augustus in The AeneidThe Emperor Augustus

does not actually appear in the Aeneid, but several references are made to him. The Prophecies in Books I and VI in particular contain many political propaganda messages designed to glorify Augustus.

Task: How is Augustus portrayed in Jupiter’s prophecy in Book I? How is he portrayed/what is said about him in Book VI? Write down points with evidence for each. What does Anchises’ prophecy add to this portrayal?

The Character of AeneasBook VI is a key book in the development of Aeneas’

character. He begins the book downcast and backward-looking, but ends it with a new hope and determination to follow his destiny.

Task: Fill out the table on the handout entitled: “Aeneas’ Journey Through the Underworld” showing the effects of Aeneas’ encounters with the people from his past in Book VI.