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.

DO THE TOMBS OF MARK ANTHONY AND CLEOPATRA EXIST?

In the mid of 2009, a team of archaeologists led by the main superintendent to the Egyptian antiquities,Zahri Hawass, announced that, after a series of radar investigation, it may be possible in the next months to unearth the tomb of Mark Anthony and his wife Cleopatra VII.As we know from history, the couple was defeated in 31 BCE in Actium.After being humiliated by Augustus, they both committed suicide.

A common trait of Cleopatra and Mark Antony was that they were both loyal to Caesar. Both of them had met earlier during the reign of Caesar. When Cleopatra crossed the Mediterranean to see him, they both fell in love. There is no doubt that until Caesar's death they were just good friends. Later, he accepted her invitation to visit Egypt. With the relationship between these two powerful people growing, the Romans were wary of the emergence of the Egyptians as a powerful force. Also, they didn't appreciate their love affair, but despite all the threats, Cleopatra and Antony married at Anatolia, Syria in 36 BC.After that they got married Augustus considered Mark Anthony a rebel because he divorced his Roman wife,Octavia, sister of Octavian, the future Augustus

More you will now if you join my tours of Rome

The site where the archaeologists believe that the couple was buried is 30 miles far from Alexandria and is the temple of Taposiris Magna. Hawass has discovered a 400 feet tunnel beneath the temple; the tunnel was decorated with statues of Cleopatra and many coins bearing her face.In addition, a few months ago Hawass teams has discovered a bust of Mark Anthony and a mask that could have been modeled from the funeral mask of Mark Anthony.Further excavations will be conducted in November 2010 and archaeologists feel themselves optimistic that they are on the way to make one of the most important discoveries from the past that can be compared to the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamon.

NOTES ON THE TABULARIUM IN ROME

When we read about the civil wars in Republican Rome, we come across the strong personality of Sulla who invaded Rome because the command of the war to Mithridates was assigned to Marius, a homo novus, and not to him.When Sulla took over the government of Rome as dictator, there is a building in Rome that carries his signature: the Tabularium. The tabularium was built in 80 BC and was the place where the senatusconsulta, deeds, treaties and laws were kept.The construction of the Tabularium has to be seen as an interesting political move of the dictator. In fact,before the construction of the Tabularium, the main laws of Rome were preserved under the foundations of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in Rome guide since the Tarquins had began this tradition during the kings' age. In my opinion, when he moved the archives from the temple to the Tabularium, he intended to appear as a new benefactor and a person endowed almost of divine powers.

In support of this opinion, the history of Rome mentions that Sulla was the first to extend the pomerium of the city, which was a religious act normally performed by the Pontifex Maximus because it recalled the sacred plowing of the ditch dug by Romulus after having seen the vultures.Therefore, the position of the Tabularium near the largest and oldest temple of Rome indicates the willingness of Sulla to become an entity closer than any other Roman to the god themselves.Interesting to note about the evolution of the building in the centuries. In 1144 the Tabularium became a medieval fortress and in the renaissance time, it will have one of his sides embellished by the architecture of Michelangelo.Since 1944 the Tabularium and its later extensions are the offices of the Mayor of Rome.

THE PERSISTENCE OF THE ROMAN ARMY IN THE SIEGE OF MASADA.

The Roman army had fought numerous battles, but one deserves a special mention because of the patience and persistence of the Roman army. The ancient Jewish historian Flavius Josephus ended his monumental account of the First Jewish Revolt against Rome (the Jewish War) with the story of a mass suicide at Masada, located on the Dead Sea.According to Josephus, some 960 Jewish rebels holding out on top of Masada – the last stronghold to remain in Jewish hands after Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 C.E. – chose to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Roman troops besieging the fortress.For the Jews was unconceivable to become part of an rome tour guide based on polytheism. The Roman siege brought the Romans to build eight camps that housed approximately 8000 troops and a circumvallation (siege) wall, still are clearly visible encircling the base of the mountain.After having surrounded the fortress with a wall, the Romans decided to build a ramp in order to have a direct access to the fortress.The ramp consisted of a slope of 375 feet built using natural bedrock. The ramp was completed in 2 months and in 73 AD the Roman army breach the wall of the fortress with a battering ram. However, when the army entered the fortress, its 960 inhabitants had already committed suicide to avoid slavery.Interesting to note that because Judaism strongly discourages suicide, Josephus reported that the defenders killed each other in turn until the last man, who was the only one to commit suicide.Before the arrival of the Romans, Masada was fortified and embellished by Herod the great who transformed the citadel into his winter palace and place to go in the occurrence of a revolt.