Homer Vs Virgil Research Paper

Both are great epics from ancient literature and tell an excellent story of honor and duty. Both epics have great warriors who are fighting for their people, although they have different motivations for doing so. The distinct contrasting differences occur in the writing style of the authors, the characters, and the overall story told. These two ancient epics have many contrasting characteristics that defined Greek and Roman epics. The writing styles of Homer and Virgil differ greatly in that, one is written in a Greek epic standpoint and the other is written in a Roman epic standpoint. In Homer’s The Iliad the warriors die heroic deaths to be remembered, which is common throughout the epic, Patroclus fighting and dying to Hector shows heroism because he fought alone and died alone against the greatest Trojan warrior. Homer wants the warriors to fight and to never give up or die trying. In Virgil’s The Aeneid the warriors fight and lead others to success to be remembered as a hero and a leader, he focuses more on loyalty and love for his characters. He shows what it means to manifest destiny and lead men against constant struggles to conquer Carthage and have it rise again as Rome, he shows what a vista of victory looks like. Homer shows the horrors of war and how Greek
These great things are completely different, one is the destruction of a city during war and becoming the greatest warrior of all time; while the other is a man escaping death and destruction with family and friends and conquering an entire city and rebuilding it as a new empire after overcoming countless obstacles to reach ones destiny. One shows the struggles of one-man hell bent on revenge and blood shed; and the other shows a man struggling to survive and lead his people to their fruition of destiny. Those are the contrasting points between two of the greatest epics ever