Aeneas and Odysseus – different kinds of heroes  

Written by Edward Hatton 

In this brief article I shall do three things.  

Firstly give a brief summary of the action of the set text and some outstanding features of it. 

Secondly give some essential context to Vergil’s creation of the Aeneid and two key intertexts to it from the Odyssey. 

Thirdly suggest what is unique and surprising about Vergil’s version in book one and how it helps create the vision of the Roman hero.i 

Firstly – the poem’s very first lines are not part of the set text but cannot be ignored. Like much in the poem they echo Homer’s seminal (that from which other things are seeded) Greek poems the Iliad and the Odyssey – the Iliad being about ‘weapons’ (arma line 1) and the Odyssey being about a ‘man’ (virum l.1). The proem or introduction explains how Aeneas will be ‘thrown about’ (iactatus l.3) by Juno’s anger but will go on to found a city that will lead to the founding of Rome. It finishes by asking how could gods possibly be so angry? 

The set text proper begins with a description of Carthage (near to the modern city of Tunis), its importance to Juno and its destiny to be an enemy of Rome. The short answer to Juno’s anger is that she is afraid of the threat to Carthage from Aeneas and his Trojans and hates them previously because of the judgement of Paris, when her ‘beauty was rejected’ (spretae…formae l.27). She spies the Trojans sailing close to Sicily and whilst she accepts that fate does not allow her to prevent them from reaching Italy (vetor fatis l.39) she reaffirms her power as sister and wife and Juppiter (Iovisque et soror et coniunx l.46-7) and goes to the king of the winds, Aeolus, to take action. He is honoured by Vergil with a significant ‘ecphrasis’ – an extended literary description of a visual image (l.52-63). Juno approaches him in a conciliatory fashion and attempts to bribe him with the nymph Deiopea as a wife (pulcherrima l.72). He acknowledges his lower status in the hierarchy through repeated use of you (l.76-80) to show Juno’s more powerful position and releases the East and South winds to attack the Trojan fleet. 

Aeneas is frozen in fear (frigore l.92) and makes an urgent plea to the gods. The ships suffer greatly from the storm and many are sunk. The set text ends with water engulfing the ships. Soon after Neptune god of the sea comes to the rescue of the Trojans and quietens the winds. 

Secondly – what is the context for this? The closest intertext for this is Odyssey book 10 when Odysseus and his men also visit Aeolus and Odyssey book 5 lines 295-306 when Odysseus suffers a similar storm in his efforts to escape Calypso. An intertext is a parallel text or work that the author uses to reference and play off, as well as often to demonstrate their intellectual prowess and in Vergil’s case, respect for and interaction with the themes and episodes of the Iliad and the Odyssey. The visit to Aeolus whilst superficially similar is quite differently portrayed in each poem – Juno is Aeolus’ superior and Odysseus his inferior. It will however be instructive to compare the key sections of Aeneid 1 and Odyssey 5, remembering that Vergil describes Aeolus controlling the winds whilst in Homer it is Poseidon. I will examine only the main similar parts: 

They are both established heroes of the Trojan war who survived – Odysseus is a more central character in the Iliad but they are both treated with respect by Homer.  

They both suffer from a somewhat indifferent chief god (Zeus for Odysseus, Jupiter for Aeneas). 

They are both the subject of anger from a similarly powerful god (Poseidon for Odysseus, Juno for Aeneas) and they both have occasional but powerful support from a friendly deity (Athene for Odysseus, his mother Venus for Aeneas although other gods do help him). 

The scene on Olympus in Vergil Aeneid 1 (outside the set text) also parallels the two initial scenes in Iliad book 1 and Odyssey book 1. In the Iliad Apollo is first angered by the disrespect of the Greek commander Agamemnon towards his priest Chryses. Apollo angrily descends from Olympus and starts wiping out the Greek army with his arrows of plague. There is then a later scene where Achilles’ sea-goddess mother Thetis successfully asks Zeus to honour Achilles and assist the Trojans, until the Greeks come desperately back to Achilles for help. Zeus is reluctant because he knows Hera will object but agrees to do as Thetis says. In the anger of Juno in the Aeneid and swift action to attack humans who have displeased her, Vergil is clearly paralleling Apollo in Iliad book 1. In portraying one god begging or cajoling another to grant some favour, Vergil is clearly playing on the Thetis / Zeus scene when he writes the Juno / Aeolus scene. 

There is a scene on Olympus in Odyssey book 1 but it interestingly differs from the Iliad opening. Almost immediately there is a focus on only two gods, Zeus and Athene and it quickly becomes apparent that Zeus fully supports and endorses Athene in her agenda, namely to assist Odysseus, at which point the focus shifts firmly to her as she descends from Olympus, takes on the shape of an ally chieftain Mentes and assists Odysseus’ son Telemachus. Perhaps in one powerful deity taking charge we see Vergil adapting this section into his opening with Juno, who seems fully in charge despite a nod to the destiny of the Trojans outranking her desire to destroy them. 

Finally, what is significantly different and surprising about Vergil’s approach, given these Homeric models? 

More than simply comparing Aeneas to Odysseus, Vergil is also pointing out the differences. Firstly Aeneas in a sense surpasses Odysseus. This happens in two key ways – firstly the proem (first 11 lines) shows that Aeneas will withstand and prosper both a wandering and war phase, largely on his own as a leader (with no other great heroes to support him). Odysseus is but one amongst many great Greek heroes at Troy. Secondly Aeneas both at the start of the Aeneid and subsequently shows more concern for his men than Odysseus. Odysseus will ultimately make it back to Ithaca alone and with a shipful of treasure – perhaps not a good look. Aeneas will get many of his people to Italy and found a new civilisation. 

More than simply recreating the scenes with gods, Vergil adapts and adjusts – Juno the more powerful shows respect and persuasion to Aeolus the lesser instead of Thetis the lesser doing the same to Zeus the greater. Vergil’s poetic thinking is of course lost in the mists of time – but perhaps there is a sense in which Juno despite her power and status knows (as she acknowledges) that the Trojans and Aeneas have an important and immoveable destiny – therefore she treads carefully in brutalising them – whereas in the Iliad Thetis has no such issues as Zeus in many ways embodies or is even capable of overturning or delaying destiny / fate. He contemplates this later in the poem to save his son Sarpedon and arguably does do this in books 1-9 where he supresses the Greek army and grants Hector and the Trojans ascendancy on the battlefield. 

By making these changes and homages to his Homeric intertexts, Vergil anchors his bold new Roman poem in the heroic Greek and godly past. He also presents from the very first book his new hero, Aeneas, as a different and specifically Roman kind of leader – capable of difficult, enduring, solitary action but also caring, protective and ultimately successful in preserving his people and enabling them to grow a new civilisation. 

​​Works Cited 

​Kline, A. (2024, 12). Homer, Odyssey. Retrieved from Poetry in Translation: https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Greek/Odyssey5.php#anchor_Toc90267461 

​Kline, A. (2024, 12). Vergil, Aeneid. Retrieved from Poetry in Translation: https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/VirgilAeneidI.php#anchor_Toc535054292 

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