Odyssey And The Aeneid Analysis

Erin Von Dollen
Suzanne Barnett
LLRN
Fall 2015
A Lot Changes with Time Ancient Greeks had a poor and dark view on what happened to them once they died. They did not have a place where they their souls went to rest in peace. Instead, they went to where they were tortured for the rest of their immortal lives. This is shown in both epics, The Odyssey by Homer and The Aeneid by Virgil. In the Odyssey Odysseus into the underworld and you get his count on the awfulness of Hades, and too Aeneas goes to the underworld and you see the different parts and find out the meaning of each section. Both texts have similarities and differences on the interpretations of the after lives of greeks. Throughout time Greeks have changed their understandings of
Getting to the underworld was not a problem he just had to perform certain tasks to get Tiresias to come out and give him his prophecy. He had to dig a trench and pour his libations in it for the dead souls. Once he completed all of his tasks that is when everyone started to appear. The first ghost he recognized was his soldier Elpenor. When Odysseus saw him he was shocked, he could not believe that he was dead. Elpenor groaned and told Odysseus about his death and now he did not get a proper burial. This is essential to ancient greeks because that is the only way a soul can be at ease in their afterlife. Every single ghost Odysseus came in contact with was miserable, angry, and bitter. They all asked about their family (mainly sons) and had nothing positive about themselves. As said by Achilles he “rather be a slave on earth for another man- some dirt poor tenant farmer who scrapes to keep alive- than rule down here over all the breathless bodies”(Homer, Odyssey 265). For a male to say this shows how bad the underworld is; Ancient Greeks were all about their pride and manhood therefore if he rather be a slave to another man take away all of his pride. Also, when Odysseus was leaving the underworld all the spirits kept surrounding him “thousands raising unearth cries, and blanching terror gripped me” (Homer,
They both had to make a sacrifice before they went down. They both were escorted by a nymph. Also,they also both could not stay for long. On the other hand, The two depictions of the underworld are extremely different to the one another. In The Odyssey there are no sections at all; the sinners are placed with the good and everyone is miserable. Also the dead souls do not know who they are and seem deranged. In The Aeneid, all different types of people are separated into different categories based on how they lives their mortal lives. Their are people who are being punished for being bad people, and others are being rewarded. The two versions differ too because Odysseus could not wait to go back and get out of the underworld; “I rushed back to my ship, commanded all hands to take the decks and cast off ables quickly” (Odyssey, 207). On the other hand, Aeneas did not understand why anyone would want to go back; “What dreadful longing sends them towards the light?”(Aeneid, 138) This is when the spirits are lined up to be sent back onto rather in another body. The difference in the two books are clear and it shows what interpretations is the better one. This reflects on how greeks view their after life then versus