"The Aeneid" by Virgil

The Aeneid is an ancient epic poem written by the Roman poet, Virgil (70 B.C. - 19 B.C.).  It is similar to Homer's The Odyssey in that its events take place in the wake of the Trojan war (1184 B.C.).  However, unlike The Odyssey this poem is about what happens to the defeated Trojans.  It opens with that devastating tragedy - the Trojans' home is burning and its people are being slaughtered.  Aeneas, a member of the Trojan royal family, gathers his family and what survivors he can find and flees for the sea.  He is destined to find Italy and found a new race of people who will eventually create the Roman Empire, but he doesn't know where Italy is and makes a lot of mistakes along the way. 

Courtesy of Columbia University (https://www.college.columbia.edu/core/content/map-travels-aeneas)

This is a map of Aeneas' wanderings.  Funny that this blog with its ambivalence about maps should begin 2017 with one.  But a map is necessary for a reader as Aeneas goes on the journey from exile to his new homeland.  This is especially true because ancient place names are used in the poem and many of them have since changed.   
                                    

In general, reading ancient poetry is not a casual undertaking.  The language is strange and so is the content at times.  To me epic poems are halfway between prose and poetry, or in other words, halfway between explicit language and more abstract uses of language.  One gets the impression when reading epic poems that they were really written to be sung which, in fact, they were.  They remind me of what it used to be like to be read aloud to by my teachers when I was in grade school - what it is like to be told a story.  I like feeling a part of the oral tradition that existed before words were so readily written down.  However, that is an acquired taste. 

Another reason this type of reading can be difficult (or even tiresome) is because of the many references to myths and historical events/figures that the modern reader won't be familiar with.  So you often have to do some research in order to know what Virgil is trying to say.  I spent a lot of time on Wikipedia with this book.  If that's not for you, than this book probably isn't for you and, perhaps, you need not read any further in this entry.  

Or, perhaps you can do what many modern readers of this book are doing which is only read the first half of it.  The first six books focus on the sack of Troy, Aeneas' tragic love affair with Dido of Carthage, Juno's (queen of the gods) cruel acts against Aeneas as she attempts to keep him from arriving in Italy, and his trip down to the Underworld.   The second half of The Aeneid focuses on his arrival in Italy and the violent battles he must fight in order to make a new city there.  For the modern reader those books will most likely be more tedious to read. 

For me the highlight was Aeneas' trip to the Underworld.  A map is also helpful for this small part of Aeneas' journey.  Below is a map which compares Aeneas' trip through the Underworld to that of Ulysses in The Odyssey.    

Photo courtesy of Carlos Parada (http://www.maicar.com/GML/Underworldmap.html)

Aeneas is told he must journey to the Underworld before he can arrive in Italy.  On this trip his guide is the female soothsayer, Sibyl.  This is the only time in the book that Aeneas is subject to the help of a woman in order to complete a necessary task on his journey.  I thought that was very interesting because for the most part this book is very unkind to women. 

Sibyl convinces Charon (the ferryman on the river Styx) that Aeneas doesn't intend to wreak havoc by entering the Underworld.  Aeneas only wishes to talk to his father, Anchises, and get some necessary information from him.  In this way, Sibyl procures Charon's help to get them over the river Styx.  She then leads Aeneas safely past Cerberus, the three headed monster who guards the Underworld and keeps anything from escaping there.  Next they pass Tartarus - a place of great suffering and torture.  It is surrounded by a river of fire, Phlegethon, and guarded by Tisiphone - one of the Furies who is "clothed in a blood-wet dress."  Aeneas sees horrors being committed in Tartarus - this was the most powerful writing in the whole book.  Nearby he also sees Dido and so discovers that she killed herself after he left Carthage.  He tries to apologize to her for his cruelty but she refuses to speak to him and instead follows after her husband.  Aeneas walks on and meets his father who reveals to him what the future holds for his descendants.

It's just a very interesting scene filled with powerful descriptions.  The main reason that I read The Aeneid now was in preparation for reading Dante's The Divine Comedy.  Virgil is Dante's guide on his journey through the inferno and over Mt. Purgatory.  This book has strong connections to Dante so I suppose that's another reason I found it interesting.  The journey to the Underworld seems pivotal in acquiring the perspective necessary for learning to live in the world.  In everyday life, the pressures of the immediate moment can easily distort one's ability to be in connection with the bigger picture or the greater meaning of what's happening.  A trip to the Underworld is all about learning to acquire that broad perspective and gaining the strength to maintain it as you navigate the challenges of your life.  

So, anyway, that's The Aeneid.  A worthwhile read.