Aeneid 1-3 Study Questions

Identify: Juno, Latium, Carthage, Tiber, Libya, Parcae, Ganymede, Teucrians, Pallas, Jove, Jupiter, Orontes, Achates, Neptune, Ceres, Venus, Antenor, Lavinium, Ascanius (Iulus),  Alba Longa, Ilia, Mars, Romulus, Assaracus, Julius Caesar, Fides, Vesta, Quirinus, Remus, Maia, Dido, Sychaeus, Pygmalion, Memnon, Penthesilea, Latona, Ilioneus, Anchises, Iopas, Ulysses, Laocoon, Sinon, Palamedes, Palladium, Minerva, Cassandra, Deiphobus, Panthus, Pyrrhus, Penates, Creusa, Polydorus, Palinurus, Hermione, Helenus, Achaemenides,

Book 1

1. Does Virgil actually "sing" his poem? Why does he begin this way? In what meter did he compose the Aeneid?
2. How does the opening of the Aeneid compare with the openings of the Iliad and the Odyssey? How would the reader's recognition of similarities affect their understanding of the poem?
3. Why does Juno persecute Aeneas?
4. How is Aeneas characterized? What do we know of him from the Iliad?
5. What is the quest of this hero?
6. What is the significance of the simile at lines 201ff?
7. Aeneas' first speech occurs at lines 270ff. What sort of leader is he?
8. What Homeric models does Virgil use for Venus' appeal to Jupiter?
9. What future for Aeneas and his descendents does Jupiter reveal to Venus?
10. What is Dido's history and what does she have in common with Aeneas?
11. Why does Aeneas envy the Carthaginians?
12. What does Aeneas see on the tapestries in the temple of Juno? Compare this with Homeric ecphrasis and with Odysseus listening to Demodocus.
13. To whom is Diod compared in the simile at lines 678ff?
14. Fire imagery is important in the Aeneid. What does it signify?

Book 2

1. Compare Aeneas as storyteller to Odysseus among the Phaiakians.
2. What is the function of Laocoon's and warning and his subsequent fate?
3. How does Sinon make his story to the Trojans credible and persuasive?
4. What instructions does Hector's ghost give to Aeneas? Does Aeneas obey him?
5. Trace the references to snakes or serpents in this book.
6. What importance is attached to the father-son relationship in the Aeneid?
7. How is Helen characterized here? What saves her life?
8. What prevents Aeneas from pursuing his fated task?
9. What sacrifice is made as they flee from Troy and why?

Book 3

1. Explain the significance of the ghost of Polydorus.
2. Where does Aeneas try to settle next and what happens to prevent him?
3. What prophecy does Celaeno deliver?
4. What is Andromache's history?
5. What does Aeneas learn from Helenus?
6. Compare and contrast Aeneas' voyage with that of Odysseus.
7. What major loss does Aeneas suffer next?