How Do Parent/Chil Relationships Contribute to the Overall Structure of the "Aeneid"

Virgil’s Aeneid is a quintessentially nationalistic epic, written during a troubled time in Rome’s history and Virgil sought to place Rome’s past in the frame of myth by telling the tale of Aeneas and the founding of Rome. A Greek-centred myth, The Aeneid, brought about a new stage in Roman ideology. Virgil   brought the present into the past through locations, people and prophecies, the most important of these being the prophecy of   the descendents of Aeneas, the future leaders of Rome in Book Six . Family, therefore, takes centre stage in The Aeneid, the appearance of the dynastic line of Aeneas himself being a central event in the book. The various parent/child relationships found throughout the poem shape and drive forward the action of Aeneas’ story, from his escape from Troy with his own father and son, the numerous interventions by his own mother, Venus to the tragic stories of both Evander, his son Pallas, and that of Lausus and his father, Mezentius, whilst also tying in important themes, such as love for the family, duty to the father and the struggle for glory

Aeneas’ relationship with his own father and son is central to the action of The Aeneid. The image of him fleeing the burning city of Troy carrying his father, Anchises, and accompanied by his own son Iulus is one of the most symbolic images of family devotion   and perfectly   encapsulates the theme of   parental fidelity; the notion of leaving his father and son behind to die in Troy would have been a “sacrilege” (Book 2, pg 44) to Aeneas. An important theme throughout the Aeneid, is the pietas of Aeneas towards his father.The concept of pietas “captures the unity in the Roman attitude that individual lives are part of the whole, that is, the family, the state and the universe ” and highlights the unbreakable bonds between the individual and their family. After saving him from Troy, together they share the leadership of the Trojan expedition until the death of Anchises in Sicily. The funeral... [continues]

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