Virgil’s "Aeneid": A Discussion Guide
By David Bruce
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About this ebook
This book uses a question-and-answer format. It poses, then answers, relevant questions about the "Aeneid." This book goes through the "Aeneid" book by book.
Teachers may find this book useful as a discussion guide for the epic poem. Teachers can have students read chapters from the epic poem, then teachers can ask students selected questions from this discussion guide.
David Bruce
It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly a cry rang out, and on a hot summer night in 1954, Josephine, wife of Carl Bruce, gave birth to a boy — me. Unfortunately, this young married couple allowed Reuben Saturday, Josephine’s brother, to name their first-born. Reuben, aka “The Joker,” decided that Bruce was a nice name, so he decided to name me Bruce Bruce. I have gone by my middle name — David — ever since. Being named Bruce David Bruce hasn’t been all bad. Bank tellers remember me very quickly, so I don’t often have to show an ID. It can be fun in charades, also. When I was a counselor as a teenager at Camp Echoing Hills in Warsaw, Ohio, a fellow counselor gave the signs for “sounds like” and “two words,” then she pointed to a bruise on her leg twice. Bruise Bruise? Oh yeah, Bruce Bruce is the answer! Uncle Reuben, by the way, gave me a haircut when I was in kindergarten. He cut my hair short and shaved a small bald spot on the back of my head. My mother wouldn’t let me go to school until the bald spot grew out again. Of all my brothers and sisters (six in all), I am the only transplant to Athens, Ohio. I was born in Newark, Ohio, and have lived all around Southeastern Ohio. However, I moved to Athens to go to Ohio University and have never left. At Ohio U, I never could make up my mind whether to major in English or Philosophy, so I got a bachelor’s degree with a double major in both areas, then I added a Master of Arts degree in English and a Master of Arts degree in Philosophy. Yes, I have my MAMA degree. Currently, and for a long time to come (I eat fruits and veggies), I am spending my retirement writing books such as Nadia Comaneci: Perfect 10, The Funniest People in Comedy, Homer’s Iliad: A Retelling in Prose, and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet: A Retelling in Prose. If all goes well, I will publish one or two books a year for the rest of my life. (On the other hand, a good way to make God laugh is to tell Her your plans.) By the way, my sister Brenda Kennedy writes romances such as A New Beginning and Shattered Dreams.
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Virgil’s "Aeneid" - David Bruce
Virgil, The Fall of Troy
: A Discussion Guide for Book 2 of Virgil’s Aeneid
By David Bruce
SMASHWORDS EDITION
Copyright 2013 by Bruce D. Bruce
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Chapter 1: The Fall of Troy
This is a short discussion guide for Book 2 of Virgil’s Aeneid, which is the fullest surviving ancient account of the Fall of Troy, one of the most important myths in the Western world.
This book uses a question-and-answer format. It poses, then answers, relevant questions about Book 2 of Virgil’s Aeneid.
Teachers may find this book useful as a discussion guide for the book. Teachers can also use the questions in this discussion guide as the topics for short reaction memos.
Summary — Book 2: The Fall of Troy
In Book 2 of Virgil’s Aeneid, Aeneas tells Dido, the Queen of Carthage, how the Greeks used the trick of the Trojan Horse and the lies of Sinon to conquer Troy. Aeneas tells Dido how he, his father, and his son escaped Troy, although his wife died in the carnage. He tells of how he returned to Troy to search for his wife, and of how her ghost appeared to him. Her ghost told him that he would arrive safely in a land in the West. Her ghost also told him not to grieve for her.
Gods
Note: Some characters have both a Roman and a Greek name. Their mythologies were similar, and the Romans borrowed many cultural elements from the Greeks.
The Greek gods and goddesses have Roman equivalents. The Greek name is followed by the Roman name:
Aphrodite: Venus
Apollo: Apollo (yes, the same name)
Ares: Mars
Artemis: Diana
Athena: Minerva
Hera: Juno
Hades: Pluto
Hephaestus: Vulcan
Hermes: Mercury
Poseidon: Neptune
Zeus: Jupiter
The Roman gods and goddesses have Greek equivalents. The Roman name is followed by the Greek name:
Apollo: Apollo (yes, the same name)
Diana: Artemis
Juno: Hera
Jupiter: Zeus
Mars: Ares
Mercury: Hermes
Minerva: Athena
Neptune: Poseidon
Pluto: Hades
Venus: Aphrodite
Vulcan: Hephaestus
Of course, Homer uses the Greek names, and Virgil uses the Roman names.
By the way, the Greek warrior Odysseus has a Roman name: Ulysses.
Greeks
Achilles: Achilles was the main warrior for the Greeks. Homer’s Iliad tells of the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles that led to the deaths of many Greeks. Achilles died in the tenth year of the war, before Troy finally fell.
Agamemnon: Agamemnon was the leader of the Greek forces against the Trojans. His brother is Menelaus, the lawful husband of Helen, who was stolen by Paris and became Helen of Troy.
Diomedes: Diomedes is a Greek warrior who fought alongside Ulysses, whose Greek name is Odysseus.
Menelaus: Menelaus is the younger brother of Agamemnon, who led the Greek forces against the Trojans after the Trojan prince Paris ran off with Helen, Menelaus’ wife. Whether Helen ran away willingly with Paris or Paris kidnapped her is ambiguous.
Phoenix: Phoenix is a father-figure to Achilles and the leader of some of Achilles’ men.
Pyrrhus: Pyrrhus is Achilles’ son. He is also known as Neoptolemus. After Achilles died in the final year of the Trojan War, Pyrrhus came to Troy. During the Fall of Troy, he killed Priam, the King of Troy.
Sinon: Sinon is a talented liar. His lies convince the Trojans that the Greeks have sailed home and that if the Trojan Horse is taken inside the walls of Troy, then Troy will never fall.
Ulysses: Ulysses is a Greek warrior who thought up the idea of the Trojan Horse. His Greek name is Odysseus, and Homer’s ancient epic the Odyssey is about his adventures and return to Ithaca, his home island, after the Fall of Troy.
Trojans
Aeneas: Aeneas is the hero of Virgil’s Aeneid. One of the main Trojan warriors, he survived the Fall of Troy, and he led other Trojan survivors to Italy, where they became important ancestors of the Romans. Aeneas is known for his pietas: his devotion to duty. Aeneas’ mother is the immortal goddess Venus.
Anchises: Anchises is Aeneas’ father. During the Fall of Troy, Anchises at first wants to die, but an omen convinces him to leave Troy with his son and his grandson.
Ascanius: Ascanius is Aeneas’ son. During the Fall of Troy, Aeneas carries his father on his back and leads his son by the hand.
Cassandra: Cassandra is a daughter of Priam. She has the gift of prophecy, but she is cursed because no one believes her when she foretells the future. During the Fall of Troy, Cassandra is raped in the temple of Athena. She becomes Agamemnon’s spear-bride, aka sex-slave, and she is killed when Agamemnon returns home to Mycenae only to be killed by his wife and her lover.
Creusa: Creusa is Aeneas’ Trojan wife. She dies during the Fall of Troy.
Hector: Hector is the foremost Trojan warrior. In Homer’s Iliad, we read of how Hector killed Achilles’ best friend, Patroclus, in battle. Enraged, Achilles then killed Hector. The death of Hector meant that Troy would soon fall. Hector’s parents are the King and Queen of Troy: Priam and Hecuba.
Hecuba: Hecuba is the aged Queen of Troy. After the Fall of Troy, she becomes a slave.
Helen: Helen’s lawful husband is Menelaus, the King of Sparta. She came to Troy with the Trojan prince Paris. Whether she did so willingly or unwillingly is unknown.
Laocoon: Laocoon is a Trojan priest of the sea-god Neptune. He advises against taking the Trojan Horse inside the walls of Troy, but sea-snakes kill him and his sons, and the Trojans disregard his advice.
Paris: A Trojan prince who visited Menelaus, the King of Sparta, and ran away with his wife (Helen) and some of his treasure. This is the cause of the Trojan War.
Priam: Priam is the King of Troy; he is also the father of Hector. Achilles’ son, Pyrrhus, kills Priam during the Fall of Troy.
Ripheus: Ripheus is a Trojan warrior known for his justice who dies during the Fall of Troy. In the Aeneid, he is only a minor character, but he appears in Dante’s Divine Comedy as a pagan who was able to enter Paradise.
A Carthaginian
Dido: Dido is the Queen of Carthage. Following a storm at sea, Aeneas and his men landed at Carthage. In Book 2 of Virgil’s Aeneid, Aeneas tells Dido his story, including what he experienced during the Fall of Troy. Aeneas and Dido have a love affair.
Gods
Apollo: In both Roman and Greek mythology, Apollo is the god of archery and of healing. In the Trojan War, Apollo favored the Trojans. Apollo is the name used by both the Romans and the Greeks.
Juno: Juno is the wife of Jupiter, King of the Gods. Juno’s Greek name is Hera. In the Trojan War, Juno favored the Greeks.
Jupiter, aka Jove: Jupiter is the main and most powerful god. He is the King of the Gods. Jupiter’s Greek name is Zeus.
Mars: Mars is the god of war. Mars’ Greek name is Ares. In the Trojan War, Mars favored the Trojans.
Minerva: Minerva is the goddess of wisdom. Minerva’s Greek name was Pallas Athena. In the Trojan War, Minerva favored the Greeks.
Neptune: Neptune is the god of the sea. Neptune’s Greek name is Poseidon. In the Trojan War, Neptune favored the Greeks.
Venus: Venus is the goddess of sexual passion. Venus’ Greek name is Aphrodite. In the Trojan War, Venus favored the Trojans. Venus is the mother of the mortal Trojan warrior Aeneas.
Places
Carthage: Carthage was a city in North Africa on the Mediterranean Sea. Dido founded Carthage, and it later became a great enemy of the Romans, who eventually destroyed it. Hannibal, who much later crossed the Alps with elephants in order to attack the Romans, was a Carthaginian general.
Tenedos: Tenedos is an island off the coast of