Aeneid Book 6

Palinurus

character: Aeneas is weeping at the start of Book 6 because he realises this person is dead; he meets him again in the Underworld

Hesperia

place: the Greek name for the land the Trojans have reached (Italy)

Apollo

character: the god whose temple is close to the Sibyl's cave; he possesses her and inspires her prophecies

Sibyl/Deiphobe

character: the prophetess who, when possessed by Apollo, can see the future

Daedalus

character: he decorated Apollo's temple with images from his life

Icarus

character: Daedalus' son; Daedalus could not bring himself to depict his death in sculpture

Paris

character: Aeneas says Apollo guided his hand when he shot Achilles

Sacrifice seven bullocks and seven sheep

the first thing the Sibyl tells Aeneas to do

Leaves (to be scattered by the wind)

what the Sibyl usually wrote her prophecies on

a rider taming a horse

metaphor: Apollo possessing the Sibyl

wars; the Tiber foaming with blood; a second Achilles

what the Sibyl prophesies for the Trojans' future

to look upon his dear father's face

Aeneas' reason for wanting to go to the Underworld

Orpheus, Pollux, Theseus, Hercules

4 heroes Aeneas mentions who have gone to the Underworld and come back

golden bough

object: what Aeneas must find to enter the Underworld

Proserpina

character: the queen of the Underworld

Misenus

character: the Trojans must bury him before Aeneas can go into the Underworld

two doves

Venus sends these to guide Aeneas to the golden bough

Avernus

place: a volcano believed by the Romans to be the entrance to the Underworld

armour, oar, trumpet

the three things Aeneas places on Misenus' tomb

Charon

character: the ferryman who takes souls across the river Styx

Styx

place: the river in the Underworld; souls cannot cross it if their bodies haven't been buried

Cerberus

the three-headed dog guarding the Underworld

Dido

character: Aeneas meets her on the Mourning Plains among the victims of unhappy love

Sychaeus

character: Dido runs away from Aeneas to meet him

Deiphobus

character: Trojan hero, mutilated by the Greeks, who speaks to Aeneas

Menelaus and Ulixes

characters: the two Greek leaders who mutilated Deiphobus

Elysium

place: the site in the Underworld for great heroes

Tartarus

place: the site in the Underworld where particularly wicked souls are tortured

Anchises

character: Aeneas finds him counting the souls returning to be reborn

Civic Crowns

what some of the heroes in the Parade are wearing on their foreheads

Silvius

Aeneas' son who will be born after his death (in the Parade of Heroes)

Romulus

son of Mars who founded Rome (in the Parade of Heroes)

Augustus Caesar

'son of a god', he will bring back the golden years (in the Parade of Heroes)

Brutus

he overthrew the Roman kings and created the Republic; an ancestor of one of Caesar's assassins (in the Parade of Heroes)

Pompey and Caesar

the two leaders in the First Civil War, father-in-law and son-in-law - 'what a terrible war they will stir up between them' (in the Parade of Heroes)

Marcellus

Augustus' nephew who died young (in the Parade of Heroes)

'kindled in his mind a love for the glory that was to come'

What was the effect of Anchises' words on Aeneas?

Gate of Horn

one of the gates of sleep, which true shades pass through

Gate of Ivory

one of the gates of sleep, which false dreams pass through; Aeneas and the Sibyl leave through this gate