Book Summaries (Aeneid)

green = key character; blue = key location; purple = detail for AO1

Book 1 - ‘Storm and Banquet’

How does the book begin?

Similar to the Odyssey: asking a muse to recount Aeneas’s story, mentioning his misfortunes and Juno’s hatred of him

Book 1 - ‘Storm and Banquet’

Which god hinders Aeneas? Why?

Juno (goddess of the hearth) - she hates the to-be-Romans because they are descendants of Trojans and:

1. Paris chose Aphrodite over her as the most beautiful goddess

2. Fates decide Carthage (which Juno loves, even more than Samos) will be overthrown by the Romans

3. Trojans are descendants of Dardanus, which remind her of her husband’s infidelity

Book 1 - ‘Storm and Banquet’

Who does Juno invoke to hinder Aeneas?

What does she offer in return?

What is Aeneas’s reaction?

She goes to Aeolus in Aeolia and asks him to use his power of manipulating the winds to sink Aeneas’s ships.

In return, Juno offers him Deiopea, the most beautiful of her 14 nymphs.

Upon seeing the deadly winds, Aeneas wishes he had nobly died in Troy. AENEAS SUICIDAL IDEATION COUNTER: 1

Book 1 - ‘Storm and Banquet’

Examples of Aeneas’s men listed in the mess at sea (5)

Which god ends the hindrance?

Where do Aeneas and his crew go?

• Orontes

• Ilioneus

• Achates

• Abas

• Aletes

Neptune orders the winds to be calmed while Cymothoe and Triton push the shipwrecked ships off the rocks.

Aeneas and his crew of 7 ships sail to the nearest piece of land, in Libya.

Book 1 - ‘Storm and Banquet’

How does Aeneas attempt to maintain the morale of his men upon reaching land?

He hunts and kills 7 deer, one for each ship, and serves them with wine gifted to them by Acestes while giving his men a hopeful speech.

Book 1 - ‘Storm and Banquet’

What does Jupiter prophesy will happen to the descendants of Trojans?

• Aeneas will found the city of Latium in Italy after defeating the Rutulians and rule for 3 years

• His son, Ascanius, will take on the surname Iulus and rule for 30 years, building the walls of Alba Longa

• Trojans will continue to rule the land for 300 years until Ilia gives birth to Romulus and Remus

• The Romans will rule for an indefinite amount of time according to Jupiter

• They will then conquer the Greek cities of Phthia and Argos

• Caesar will be born

• Augustus will be born

  • he will be deified

  • he will have great victory in the East

  • he will bring an era of peace to Rome

    • the gates of Janus will be closed

He then sends Mercury to Dido in Carthage to make the Carthaginians and their queen subconsciously like the Trojans.

Book 1 - ‘Storm and Banquet’

How do Aeneas and Venus interact with each other?

What tale does Venus recount to Aeneas?

Venus approaches Aeneas in disguise while he is out hunting with Achetes. Aeneas doesn’t recognise her but understands her to be divine and asks where he and his men have landed.

Venus tells him the story of how Dido came to rule Carthage:

• Her husband, Sychaeus, was murdered by her brother, Pygmalion, king of Tyre, in front of the altars.

• The murder was kept a secret from Dido until Sychaeus’s ghost came to Dido in a dream, telling her to flee before showing her to the location of a secret amount of gold hidden underground.

• Dido fled from her brother and founded Carthage into a prosperous city

Aeneas then recounts his woes and how he initially sailed the Phrygian sea with twenty ships and now only has seven, before Venus interrupts him to instruct him to find Dido. Only then does she reveal herself and Aeneas laments about not being able to see his mother in her true form. She places Aeneas and Achates under a mist so no one can disrupt them while she flies away back to Paphos.

Book 1 - ‘Storm and Banquet’

How are the Carthaginians described? What are they doing? What simile does Virgil use? What does Aeneas notice?

The Carthaginians are:

• building and raising the citadel;

• making magistrates, laws, and a senate;

• beginning the construction of a theatre.

Virgil compares them to bees.

Upon entering Dido’s palace (who was busy constructing a temple for Juno) he notices a mural accurately depicting the Trojan War.

Book 1 - ‘Storm and Banquet’

Examples of details Aeneas notices on Dido’s Trojan mural (3)

• Rhesus’s tents which were massacred by Diomedes

• Troilus being dragged by his own chariot’s horses

• Queen Penthesilea leading her Amazonian soldiers

Book 1 - ‘Storm and Banquet’

What happens before Aeneas and Dido first interact?

Aeneas and Achates, still hidden in Venus’s mist, see some of their comrades who were seemingly lost in Aeolus’s storm (e.g. Antheus). Ilioneus, one of the Trojans, asks for help from Dido, which she happily obliges, telling the Trojans they can stay in Carthage. She laments the loss of Aeneas before the mist dissipates and he is revealed (enhanced by Venus to look more beautiful).

Book 1 - ‘Storm and Banquet’

How do Dido and Aeneas first interact?

Upon revealing himself, Dido praises Aeneas’ appearance and bravery, gifting him and the Trojans more than 20 bulls, 100 pigs, and more. While a feast is prepared for them, Aeneas sends Achates to deliver the news to Ascanius and he prepares gifts for Dido, including a robe worn by Helen.

Book 1 - ‘Storm and Banquet’

What plan does Venus concoct?

Make Dido fall in love with Aeneas:

• Cupid (made to look like Ascanius by Venus) will arrive at the palace in place of the real Ascanius

• This will allow him to get close enough to Dido on her lap to breathe fire into her to make her fall for Aeneas and forget Sychaeus

• Meanwhile Venus makes the real Ascanius fall alseep and carries him to Idalia

Book 1 - ‘Storm and Banquet’

How does the book end?

Iopas, Dido’s bard taught by Atlas, plays ballads. Dido asks Aeneas to recount the sacking of Troy and the Greeks’ trickery.

Book 2 - ‘The Fall of Troy’

What is Sinon’s lie?

Book 2 - ‘The Fall of Troy’

Which Trojan tests the Horse? What happens to him?

Laocoön, a priest, throws a spear at the Horse but the inside rings hollow. Later, after Sinon says anyone who harms the Horse (an offering to Athene) will be harmed, Laocoön and his sons