Odyssey vs. Aeneid

The Odyssey, by Homer, is the story of a Greek man, Odysseus, who travels and wanders back to his home of Ithica after the Trojan War. And the Aeneid, by Virgil, is the story of a Trojan man, Aeneas, and his journey and wanderings to find New Troy. Both these stories, being epic poems, have similarities and differences, as you can already see. In the next few paragraphs, I will be discussing what happened in these two epic poems and will be telling of there similarities and differences. Source!!

The Aeneid is the story of a man named Aeneas who was a hero in the Trojan War. This epic poem tells of the wanderings of Aeneas and how he carried his father on his back and took his son by the hand and escaped Troy when Troy was going through its fall. Aeneas sailed through the Mediterranean sea, where he became shipwrecked on the coast of Africa. There in Africa, he meets Queen Dido in which they fall in love. But when he leaves Carthage, she becomes sad and kills herself and the people of Carthage hate Aeneas for this. After this, Aeneas sails to the Tiber River and there is where he founds Rome.

The Odyssey, on the other hand, is the story of a man named Odysseus. Odysseus was a Greek man who was a hero in the Trojan War. The Odyssey tells of how Odysseus must wander for ten years. Odysseus is trying to get back to his wife, Penelope, who lives in Ithica, but at the same time, Odysseus is running from the Greek god, Poseidon, who has injured Odysseus' son, Polyphemus, who is a cyclops. In this great epic poem, most of Odysseus' near death experiences are caused by his patron goddess, but luckily Athena is looking out for him.

Similarities: Both of these epic poems are about a man who is travelling home after the end of the Trojan War. They are both going back to their wives and both men have at least one son. In both of these epic poems, there are some of the same gods, whether they are Greek or Roman. Some of the gods that were in these stories were Venus, Juno, Jupiter, Bacchus,and Neptune. Source!! Source!!

Differences: The Odyssey is Greek and the Aeneid is a Roman epic. In these stories, Odysseus has a home to which he can go home to after the Trojan War, and Aeneas does not have a home and is in search for one in the Aeneid. Odysseus was thought to be a very handsome man while Aeneas was thought to be a very ugly man who had bad hygene. Odysseus gets shipwrecked in the Odyssey and Aeneas crashes his ship into land.

Even though the Odyssey and the Aeneid were alike and at the same time different, they were both written by extremely intelligent people who have changed the way people think throughout centuries.

Source 1) Wikipedia :]
Source 2) Virgil. The Aeneid. 19 BC. Translated by John Dryden: The Odyssey.
Source 3) Homer. 700BC.

Two Foundational Myths of Rome :D

There is two foundational myths telling of the founding of Rome. Both of these being "myths" tell that they are both not true. The first of these myths is about Romulus and Remus and how they created a city just because they wanted to and the second is about Aeneas and how he made his own city because he did not want the people of Carthage to hate him.

Romulus and Remus were brothers. Their mother was supposed to be a virgin priestess but one day concieved twins, Romulus and Remus. Some say that the father of Romulus and Remus was the Greek god, Mars. Romulus and Remus were abandoned by their parents and put into a basket that floated down-river. Finally, the basket got caught and it is said that wolves came to care for the twin brothers until they were old enough to go out on their own.

When Romulus and Remus became adults, they decided to found a city where the wolves had found them, but in the process of founding this city, they fought alot. They quarreled so much that one day, Romulus was fed up with Remus and killed him. This lift Romulus to found the city all by himself.

The second foundational myth for the founding of Rome has to do with Aeneas. Aeneas was one of the prince's of Troy. On a search for a new land, Aeneas came across Carthage. In Carthage. Aeneas met Queen Dido who fell in love with Aeneas. Soon, Aeneas had to leave Carthage and Queen Dido was heart broken. She killed herself by stabbing herself in the heart. This made the people of Carthage hate Aeneas. (page 74)

After Aeneas left Carthage, he finally landed at Latium Italy where he set up his city of Rome. So, as you can clearly see, both of the stories of the founding of Rome are very different, but both of them are very interesting.




Clark, Michael, Story of Aeneas, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago. American Book Company, 1898.

I also used the Book on tape we listened to in class :D