SOME DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AENEAS AND ODYSSEUS.

As we read along the Aeneids, we discover that Aeneas, in order to visit his father, has to undertake a trip in the underworld such as Odysseus when he met his mother Anticleia. In some ways the visits into the underworld by these two heroes are similar; however, the differences in the purposes as to why both poems were composed and the societies for which they were created means that the visits are intrinsically different. First of all both Homer and Virgil got inspired from older myths and legends when composing their epics and they adapted these stories to suit their thoughts and the audience to whom they were addressed.The trip of Odysseus is in the 11 book of the Iliad. Odysseus meets Tiresias who tells him what he will se in the Underworld but Tiresias does not mention any Ithaca, nor telemachuis and does not even predict the glory of Greece.In few words, the Odyssey is a poem about a man and his fate and no other political themes or propagandistic elements are narrated. On the other hand, the Aeneid wa s written down for a sole patron, Augustus, and it has political implications.Once Augustus ended the civil war and remained the only one to rule Rome,he began a large building project in the city and in its provinces. In addition, he surrounded himself with the major poets and writers of his time, such as Virgil and Horace and asked them to let the future generations know his achievements. Therefore, when Anchises describes that Rome will rule the world, the poem itself reveals that Aeneas is a vehicle of the Augustean propaganda during rome tour guide

To add weight to his poem,Vergil uses many similar scenes throughout his poem to those in Homer’s. For example, Odysseus meets his mother (who he does not know has died) in the Underworld. He tries to embrace her three times, and three times he folds his arms about nothing but air and begs her not to withdraw from his grasp. Aeneas meets his father in the Underworld and tries to embrace him three times, and three times folds his arms about nothing but air and begs him not to withdraw from his grasp. Aeneas cannot meet his mother in the Underworld, as she is a goddess.In conclusion, while Odysseus is struggling to arrive home and finds many obstacles on his way, Aeneas is destined by Vergil to be the father of the greatest nation in the ancient world.