Transcript Book 6 - PBworks

Book 6
The visit to the underworld
Book VI
Book 5
summary
• The Trojans land in Sicily to avoid a storm, and,
there, Aeneas holds funeral games in honor of
the anniversary of his father's death. Meanwhile,
Juno sends IRIS to persuade the Trojan women
to burn the fleet and end their
wanderings. Jupiter saves the fleet with a timely
rainfall and Nautes suggests that Aeneas leave
behind those who do not want to go on to
Italy. Anchises appears to Aeneas in a dream
and convinces him of Nautes' plan. A new Troy is
founded in Sicily, and Aeneas sets sail for
Italy. Venus asks Neptune to give Aeneas' ships
safe passage to Italy. Only Palinurus , the
helmsman, is lost at sea
Aeneas arrives on the shore of Italy!
Bk 6
Bk 1
Bk 4
Bk 2
The Trojans rush ashore and run
about searching the land
But Aeneas makes his way to the
Apollo’s cave to find out about the
future
Apollo’s temple has depictions from
mythology on the front doors
The Trojans
Admire the
images
Showing myths
On the walls
• TEMPLE OF JUPITER - "TEMPLE OF APOLLO"
Only the stereobate remains of the Greek, so-called
Temple of Jupiter (5th century B.C.) on the summit of the
acropolis. During the 5th century A.D. the temple was
transformed into a christian basilica, of which one can
still observe the remains of the ancient altar and a large
circular baptismal font. On the lower terrace of the
acropolis there is the so-called Temple of Apollo, the
construction of which is attributed to the mythical
Daedalus, who, escaped from Crete with his artificial
wings and landed at Cumae. Of the ancient temple all
that survives is the stereobate platform, because it was
converted into a christian basilica in the 5th century A.D.
Achates has collected the Sibyl
(Deiphobe) for Aeneas.
She is
Priestess and
Prophetess to
Apollo and Diana
She reads the gods
Oracles and messages
to humans
• A sibyl was a Greek prophetess. The story goes that one
of her kind offered to Tarquinius Superbus a collection of
prophecies and warnings in the form of nine books at a
high price. When he refused, she threw three of them
into the fire and offered him the remaining six at the
original price of the nine. He refused again, so she
burned three more and offered him the rest, still at the
same price. This time he bought them. The Sibylline
Books were consulted on the orders of the senate at
times of crisis and calamity, in order to learn how the
wrath of the gods could be allayed. They were
accidentally burned in 83 BC, and envoys were sent all
round the known world to collect a set of similar
utterances. Augustus had the new collection put in the
temple of Apollo on the Palatine Hill, where it remained
until it was finally destroyed in the fifth century AD.
• Disasters were seen by the Romans as
manifestations of divine disapproval, and
unusual phenomena as portents of
catastrophe. The taking of auspices - the
literal meaning of which is “signs from
birds―- was a standard procedure before
any state activity.
The Sibyl tells the Trojans to make
a Sacrifice of 7 sheep & 7 bulls
The Sibyl leads Aeneas to Apollo’s
temple
The Sibyl breaks into a frenzy as she
receives the oracle from apollo. She
demands Aeneas to pray so the doors will
open
Sibyl frenzies
Aeneas prays
The Sibyl runs riot in the cave
The doors to the cave spring
open
The Sibyl announces Apollo’s
prophecy
PRHOPHECY!!!
Aeneas makes a prayer request to
be let to the underworld
The Sibyl tells Aeneas what must
be done before he can go to the
underworld
1.
2.
3.
Aeneas and Achates walk back to
the boats, thinking about the Sibyl’s
words
They discover misenus dead on the
beach
Misenus challenged Triton to a
competition, showing Hubris
Aeneas collects wood for Misenus’
funeral pyre
Two doves (venus’ sign) appear,
Aeneas follows them
The birds show aeneas the golden
bough and he breaks it off
Funeral for Misenus
Aornos, the entrance to the
underworld
Personifications of the world’s evil
things are at the opening of the
underworld
Nightmares and evil monsters hang
out by the elm tree
Aeneas attempts to fight off the
spirits, but the Sibyl stops him
Charon the boatman
• YouTube - The River Styx.avi
Even The Simpsons knows about
the underworld..
Charon
Aeneas meets his friend
Palinurus
Charon the boat man does not let
Aeneas across
Charon lets Aeneas aboard when
he sees the golden bough
The Sibyl drugs Cerebus so it falls
asleep, so that her and Aeneas can
pass
They go past the area for unborn
babies
They go past the area for those
who were put to death based on a
false accusation
\
Aeneas meets Dido
Aeneas tries to talk to Dido but she
ignores him and runs away to be
with Sychaeus
As she went [he] long gazed after
her with tearful eyes and pity for
her in his heart”
Aeneas goes to the part of those
who died in war and sees all the
old trojan and greek warriors
The trojans all want to talk
To Aeneas, the greeks are afraid
Of him
Aeneas meets Deiphobus (paris &
hector & creusa’s brother) who
married Helen after Paris died.
Deiphobus body is
heavily mutilated
Just as it was the day
he was killed
Aeneas and Deiphobus could have
talked all night. The Sibyl hurries
Aeneas along
Deiphobus says “Go on your way,
you, the glory of our Troy, and meet
a happier fate than mine.”
They go to Tartarus
The Sibyl tells Aeneas about
Tartarus
Tisiphone whips the guilty
Ruled by Rhadamanthus of
Cnossos who is in charge of punishments
The Sibyl continues to explain the
underworld
Tityos- he is stretched over 9 acres and a vulture pecks at his liver
forever
Phlegyas who has a black flint rock
over him ‘which seems at every
moment about to slip and already be
falling”
Tantalus has an amazing feast in
front of him
But every time he
Goes to eat something
One of the terrible
furies does not
let him
Here live those that:
•
•
•
•
Hated their brothers
Hit a parent
Involved others in deceit
Skited about being rich & kept the money
to themselves
• Killed for cheating on their partners
• Took part in a unnecessary war
Aeneas and the Sibyl do rituals to
leave the underworld
The arrive in Elysium (the land of
Joy)
Aeneas sees his Ancestors
People who are in Elysium
• Those who sustained wounds while
fighting for their homelands
• Those who were priests without sin during
life
• Faithful prophets who never made up
prophecies
• Those who invented skills
• Those had been memorable by being kind
The Sibyl asks where Elysium is
The souls show Aeneas and the
Sibyl where Anchises lives
Anchises talks to Aeneas
Aeneas tries to hug
His father 3 times
But cannot properly
As he is a ghost
Aeneas is reunited with his father
who is looking at future Trojans
Anchises tells aeneas why the
souls are by the river Lethe
Anchises points out individual souls
who are Aeneas descendants and
future Trojans and Romans
• The pageant ends on a note of mourning: Last to
be identified is young Marcellus, Augustus’s
nephew and heir, who died unexpectedly, shortly
before this passage was written. This ends the
passage on an emotional but realistic note. Virgil is
pointing out that fate will still have its way in the
future, and often things don’t work out as they wish.
The rancour of the gods will still continue and the
glory of the future Rome will also have the reality of
sadness and loss as well.
Aeneas and The Sibyl leave the
underworld
Book 6 ….The movie
• ..\..\..\..\MY VIDEOS\youtube videos for
teaching\Aeneid Book 6 The Epic Journey
Part 1.flv
• ..\..\..\..\MY VIDEOS\youtube videos for
teaching\part
2.17&ipbits=16&expire=1207573049&key
=yt1&sver=2
• Among the spirits that Anchises points out are
Silvius, Aeneas’s son by Lavinia and the founder of
a race of kings; Romulus, founder of Rome; and the
descendants of Aeneas’s son, Ascanius, the Julian
family, whose glory will reach its peak with
Augustus, “son of the deified.” This “deified” god,
Julius Caesar, is also present. The pageant ends
on a note of mourning: Last to be identified is
young Marcellus, Augustus’s nephew and heir, who
died unexpectedly, shortly before this passage was
written. This ends the passage on an emotional but
realistic note. Virgil is pointing out that fate will still
have its way in the future, and often things don’t
work out as they wish. The rancour of the gods will
still continue and the glory of the future Rome will
also have the reality of sadness and loss as well.
• Book 6 is a book of revelation concerning the latter
history of Rome. Anchises describes famous men of
legend and history from the Alban kings to Augustus,
founder of the new golden age.
• In 27BC Augustus received a golden shield from the
romans and the senate on which he was honoured with
the 4 virtues:
• virtus – courage
• clementia - mercy
• iustitia –sense of justice
• pietas - duty
Significance of the golden bough
• The significance of this as Aeneas’
passport to the underworld is uncertain.
But it is thought as a the bough is a dead
object on a living tree it is the reverse of
Aeneas – a living man in a dead world.
The golden glow could also symbolise light
in darkness, or survival in destruction.
The three people Aeneas meets in book 6
• Palinurus death and punishment is undeserved, and
even though he asks Aeneas for help, he cannot.
Humans have no control over fate.
• Dido’s meeting emphasises the price Aeneas has had to
pay for doing his duty. He knows he did the right thing by
leaving her but still feels guilt, remorse and sorrow. Dido
turns away with the SAME coldness that Aeneas showed
her intially, when he left her. This teaches him the past is
dead and there is no point brooding over it.
• Deiphobus symbolises the destruction of Troy and the
cruelty of the Greeks which caused Aeneas so much
grief. But he must also put this behind him.
• He has reviewed 3 crucial episodes in his life and is freed
from the past.
Anchises explanation about souls
• The idea is that we are all part of the
divine spirit or fire but our souls are
polluted by contact with the body. After
appropriate cleansing (or Catholic
purgatory) a soul stays in Elysium if
perfect or goes to Tartarus if uncurably
evil. The most drink Lethe, forget their past
life and begin a new one.
Imagery in book 6
• P. 156: souls waiting to cross the river are
compared to…….. (insert quote)
This symbolises the melacholy and loss of death
• P.160-161: Aeneas sees Dido dimly through
the shadows of the underworld like a
man……..
This symbolises the gloom of the underworld and
the souls being mere shadows of their former
selves
Aeneas
character
book 6
• This is crucial book in development of Aeneas’ character
• Everything that has gone before is summarised in it
• At the beginning of his experiences in the underworld he
is still looking back, regretful, uncertain, but after
meeting with Anchises and having the future destiny of
Rome revealed he is strengthened and resolved to be
successful in his mission
• Aeneas has never been given any clear message about
where he was going and why. For years he has received
obscure hints about his divine destiny. His journey
through the underworld and meetings with souls he
knew in life shows him the past is dead and he must live
for the future.
• At the end of book 6 the future of Rome is the dominant
idea . Aeneas is excited about the fame of his people.
The immediate wars coming up will not depress him as
he can see the bigger picture.
•AUGUSTUS
•The purpose of making
Augustus a character In the
Aeneid is to glorify him. He is
the symbol of greatness of the
Roman empire, the promised
leader who presides over the
golden age. Rome ruled over
most of the known world and
seemed invincible
Themes review
•
•
•
•
Aeneas divine mission p. 35
The romans divine mission p. 36
Pietas & furor p.40
Accounting for suffering & rancour of god
(handout)
• Fate &Destiny (handout)
• Meaning of life & life after death (handout)