Odyssey & Aeneid

The Aeneid by Virgil and The Odyssey by Homer have many parallels, and most historians argue that Virgil based his epic on the epics of Homer. For instance, the first six books of The Aeneid correspond to The Odyssey because Aeneas searches for a home much as Odysseus wanders for years trying to get home in Homer's epic. Of course, Homer's epic is a depiction of heroes whose ideal would be Odysseus, while Virgil's is a patriotic effort to glorify Rome, whose ideal citizen would be a man like Aeneas. However, both epics share another commonality and that is their depiction of relations between men and women and the characterization of them. In both stories women, either god or human, appear as either good or evil and even the ones who are good are often viewed as being suspect in their loyalty and fidelity.

In the epic of Homer we see women as different but equal in nature to men. If we look to the gods for an example, we see that Ares and Aphrodite are equally blamed and shamed for their adulterous affair. Yet, we see a little bit of male superiority in the male gods who share some ancient form of "locker" talk when they admit they would gladly lie in chains to be with Aphrodite. Yet, when we look at the sexual relations among male and female mortals we see things are not quite so equitable. For example, Odysseus' brother Eumaios talks about how the slave woman who captured him was ravished by a seafarer to the point where Ph

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oubt. As Agamemnon warns Odysseus in Hades, Clytemnestra will give "an evil reputation to all women, even one who does good" (Lattimore 201-202). Even Telemakos doubts the fidelity and wisdom of his mother, "�my mother is like that, perverse and for all her cleverness: she'd entertain some riff-raff, and turn out a solid man" (Lattimore 379). In The Aeneid, we do not see such doubts between Aeneas and Dido. Aeneas has no doubt about Dido's affections, but he knows he cannot commit to her because he has a higher commitment to Rome, "Dido, I'll never pretend you have not been good to me, deserving of everything you can claim�No more reproaches then-they only torture us both. God's will, not mine, says Italy" (Mack 591). Yet, this also shows the path for women who are true to the cause of Italy-they must allow their men to sacrifice everything for the good of their country, even if it means being desolated, as Dido is, by the loss of their love. In fact, the ideal Roman Aeneas must lose his wife, his father, his nurse and only forms a dynastic bond with his son all for Rome. This is in direct contrast to Odysseus, who gets his wife and son and is a hero. Of course, in The Odyssey Helen is also an ideal of womanhood also,

Category: Literature - O