The Golden Age of Rome and Vergils Aeneid

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The Golden Age of Rome and Vergils Aeneid

• Mrs. Barnes

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The Collapse of the Republic

• Octavian defeated Mark Antony in Egypt, and
  Cleopatra committed suicide right in front of
  Octavian to spite him.
• Octavian returned to Rome as the triumphal
  leader.
• The senators wished to rename him Augustus and
  present him with a crown.
• He accepted the name but not the crown.
• He had learned his lesson in power from his uncle
  Julius Caesar.

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What Republic?

• Augustus did not wish to become emperor just
  Romes First Citizen who had more equality than
  all other citizens.
• Successfully manipulated the senate.
• Strength Augustus was the ultimate deal-maker.

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Public Works

• During Augustuss reign, he
• built temples,
• reconstructed dilapidated buildings in marble,
• constructed libraries (since he had torched
  Alexander the Greats famous library in Egypt),
• and commissioned the construction of a public
  sewer system.
• He was the Peoples Emperor.

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Golden Age

• Augustuss reign is referred to as the Pax Romana
  since he ruled for 50 peaceful years.
• However, with peace, the army legions were out of
  jobs.
• Solution Take farms away from plebeians and
  give them to the retired military men.

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Enter Vergil

• One of the farms he absconded belonged to a quiet
  and typically a-social individual named Vergil.
• Vergil did have a close friend who was a consul
  and, thus, close to Augustus.
• The consul friend pleaded on Vergils behalf, and
  Augustus compensated Vergil for his loss and
  promised his safety for the endurance of
  Augustuss reign.

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Who Is/Was Vergil?

• He was not a Roman citizen, but a citizen of Gaul
  (present-day France).
• Later in his life, he was granted Roman citizenry
  because of his distinct contributions.
• He was a poet who lived alone and was often
  characterized as introverted.

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The Request

• Augustus had established stability and peace in
  Rome but noticed a growing disregard for Romes
  religious context and sense of patriotism.
• He commissioned Vergil to write a poem depicting
  the founding of Rome as well as its destiny to
  become great.

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Aeneid

• Vergil was basically writing in the year 0.
• The events of the story, however, were dated
  1200B.C.
• This story provided the Romans with a great
  foundation story as well as a distinct sense of
  pride in their ancestors.
• It was, in fact, a story that created a Roman
  revival in tradition, history, culture, etc.

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The Story

• Vergil based his story around the skeletal
  framework of the Homeric Odyssey and Iliad.
• Hero Aeneas

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Storys Background

• Begins with a wedding festival in which all gods
  and goddesses were assembled except Eris (the
  goddess of strife).
• She gets mad and shows up any way with a golden
  apple (the Apple of Discord) with the engraving
  to the fairest.
• She throws the apple into the middle of all
  assembled women and watches the fun begin.

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And Then There Were 3

• There were three main women vying for the apple
  Minerva (goddess of wisdom), Juno (queen of the
  gods and Jupiter's wife), and Venus (goddess of
  beauty).
• Jupiter is asked to choose which he quickly
  selects young Prince Paris of Troy to choose.
• Paris (DUH!) chooses Venus.

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Judgment of Paris

• Pariss decision automatically set Minerva and
  Juno against him and the Trojans.
• He wants Helen for himself and begs for Venuss
  help.
• He kidnaps the Greek Helen (wife of Menelaus,
  king of Sparta).
• Thus, the Trojan War begins.

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Greek Heroes

• Ulysses
• Achilles
• Ajax

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Trojan Heroes

• Hector
• Paris
• Aeneas (son of Venus and Anchises)

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Fall of Troy and the Results

• The wooden horse
• Wanderings of Aeneas
• The founding of Rome

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Symbolism of Family

• Anchises and Venus Aeneas
• Aeneas Ascanius
• Ascanius is also called IulusLook familiar?

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Tricky Little Poet

• The poem foretells of Romes greatness.
• It offers prophesy about the greatest ruler and
  the Golden Age of Rome (Hmmmm.. Wonder who that
  could be?)
• It also depicts Aeneas selecting the door of
  falsehood rather than truth to escape hell.
• This has provided scholars with lots of questions
  over the past 2000 years.

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Burn IT!!!

• Some scholars are particularly interested in the
  fact that upon his deathbed, Vergil begged his
  friends to burn the poem.
• Isnt it ironic?

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The Irony

• The poem Vergil sacrificed his entire life for
  and for which he did not complete was the one
  thing he wished destroyed as he was dying.
• Why???????
• Some believe simply because he had betrayed the
  mighty Augustus and the most infamous of
  civilizations in the history of mankind, and he
  KNEW IT!

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The Aftermath of the Aeneid

• The Aeneid became more than a story or a book of
  poetry it was transformed into little short of a
  magical text of prophecy.
• People began viewing the Aeneid as a Sortes
  Vergilianae it was opened at random and whatever
  the first line read was taken as omen of good or
  evil.

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The Aftermath of Vergil

• Today he is arguably the greatest poet of all
  time.
• Other legendary pieces of literature are
  Vergilian influenced such as The Canterbury
  Tales, Shakespearean plays, Marlowes epic Faust,
  and the list continues.
• In fact, few poets are considered poets until
  they have studied Vergil.
• Today, he is often referred to in academia as
  simply The Poet.