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Comparison of Aeneas and Achilles as Epic Heroes in Ancient Literature The term hero is often described as a man of exceptional quality, who wins admiration by noble deeds. Early Roman and Greek literature often have a character in which they consider the hero of the story. The two famous epic stories of the ancient world, Virgil's Aeneid and Homer's Illiad introduce the reader to two characters that are both depicted as heroes - Aeneas and Achilles. In this paper I will examine the approach to the concept of epic hero that is taken by both authors.
The characters will be analyzed and compared with a special attention on their emotional and behavioral sides. Starting with Aeneas I will examine the characters separately, and then compare them in the conclusion. Aeneas of Virgil's Aeneid is a very interesting character. Commonly considered to be a hero, Aeneas, however, does not have all the attributes of the hero, as we would understand from the conceptual definition of this word. Unlike most heroes, Aeneas must constantly be reminded of what his fated task is, and other personages of the epic constantly correct the course of all his heroic deeds.
For example, the time when the ghost of Crest and Hector direct Aeneas as he fumbles through the city not wanting to do the task he was fated to do. Without this intervention, he would have died. There were also times when Aeneas roamed around the Mediterranean not knowing where to go next. The gods would constantly remind him. Jupiter had to also intervene at one time to remind Aeneas of his fate when he was busy building up Carthage with Dido.
Aeneas often seemed unsure of himself. This was portrayed by the way he would constantly wait on the gods or his father to tell him what course of action he needed to follow next. He even goes down to the Underworld to see the future of Rome from his father. Aeneas states: Father it was you- Your grief-engendering spirit time and again Appeared to me and constrained me to make my way To the edge of this world (Virgil 158). On the other hand, there are many attributable personality traits that contribute to Aeneas title of being a hero. Throughout the story, Aeneas demonstrates this by enduring many journeys at sea, through war, love, and through death.
He demonstrates himself very much as a hero when he carries his father on his back out of Troy. He shows strength by having many problems on his journey but always keeps on moving forward. Even when one of the members on his crew die, he does not dwell on its and keeps on moving forward. Aeneas also is very obedient to the gods. Aeneas states: Of arms I sing and the hero, destinys exile. Who in the grip of immortal powers was pounded By land and sea to sate the implacable hatred of Juno: Who suffered bitterly in his battles As he strove for the site of his city, and safe harboring For his Gods in Latium He also demonstrates great leadership skills by guiding the Trojans to victory over the Latins.
Another characteristic that Aeneas exhibited was the fact that he would always place his beliefs in Rome before his own personal interest, which was the most prevalent characteristic defining Aeneas heroism. For example, when he had to leave his beloved Dido, Aeneas laments: If the fate allowed me the life I would choose to live for myself. It is not Of my own free will I must seek Italy (Virgil 84). Even though he loved Dido and wanted to stay with her, he put the interest of Rome first before his own personal feelings. This type of devotion to a duty is a quality that Romans call piety.
This quality is what keeps him going even when he does not want to follow his fate. Aeneas exhibits many characteristics that are attributable to a hero. Aeneas encountered many situations and was able to overcome them. Much of his success was due to the divine intervention of his mother and many of the other gods. But there were also several characteristics that he exhibited that contributed to Aeneas title as a hero. So, with some help from the gods and several good personality traits, altogether make Aeneas be referred as a hero.
All these qualities made Aeneas go from being a victim of the Greeks at Troy to becoming a conqueror in Italy and that is considered a hero. Contrary to Virgil's work, in the epic poem The Iliad Homer presents a social circumstances in which personages values, the ideals of the characters traditions and the themes those values develop can be derived. The way Achilles acts has an effect on the Trojan War and the survival of the Greek Culture. Thus, the Greek Culture that is determined by Achilles will live on. Many facts display that Achilles withholds the value of teamwork at first, and then grants it to his benefit knowing that teamwork is necessary to win the war. Just as Aeneas, Achilles knows he will die (his mother told him his fate), but contrary to Aeneas he is creating his own way of life through the remembrance of others and achievement of immortality by the survival of the Greek culture.
Also, Achilles is holding the funeral games so that when he dies a glorious death, the Achaeans will remember him better by having funeral games in honor of him. The values and themes the reader can see from Achilles are the constant battle for glory and immortality. The reader has to realize that every time Achilles is taking control, praying to Zeus, fighting in the war, and bringing his troops together he is doing it for the benefit of himself. Because it is human nature to see everything in a lighter sense then is present, the reader may only think Achilles is stubborn. The reader sees a conspicuous change in the personalities of Achilles from the beginning of the poem and the funeral games. When the reader realizes this, he is forced to find out why, uncovering Achilles amoral plan to achieve immortality.
Achilles is displaying the common human urge to establish his power and gain glory in everything that he does. Achilles, being the model for Achaean culture, calls all of the Greek men together after the death of Patroclus and Hector to participate in funeral games. One of Achilles incentives was to honor his friend, Patroclus, but Achilles also wanted to bring the Greek army closer together. The reader can see Achilles plan of using the funeral games as a team building workshop activated during the chariot race. Antilochus cuts off Menelaus in a dangerous part of the race and Menelaus gets very upset (Homer 572). Antilochus ended up beating Menelaus by a short distance.
Menelaus says to Antilochus, Now see what you have done! Disgraced my horsemanship-youve fouled my horses, cutting before me, you with your far slower team. This shows that not only Achilles demonstrates the constant urge to establish power and authority, Menelaus does too. Then, they both make up and present each other with gifts (Homer 578), showing team-unity. After examination of the situation, the reader can see Achilles is benefiting himself from not revealing the value of teamwork whenever he has planned, because he is trying to establish his power.
He is establishing his power so that when he dies he will be immortal through the remembrance of the Greeks in his culture. By not following the value of teamwork at the beginning of the text, Achilles is creating circumstances in which the Achaeans will need him to win the war. Achilles fights with Agamemnon as an excuse to leave the war. Achilles is also fighting with Agamemnon because he wants to be greater then and actually be the leader, or the master of all the Achaeans. Then, he prays to his mother to have Zeus start killing his own people so they will need him even more to fight. At the same time, Achilles knows that he will die in the war because his mother told him that was his fate, but he wants to be immortal in the eyes of mortals.
This gives Achilles an attribute of a god and that is what Achilles is essentially trying to accomplish. In order to be immortal hero to his culture he first has to make sure his culture will survive and also, everything Achilles does has to be establishing his power and thusly working toward getting great glory. When the reader first reads Homers poem, it is hard to understand any true meaning behind it. The reader compensates for this by using his initial instinct to follow human nature and say that Achilles is just a stubborn man, or taking the less heavy and complex explanation. The part of the poem, which talks about the funeral games forces the reader to change their mind because of the significant difference in personalities of Achilles from the beginning of the text to the games. In the beginning, Achilles is against Agamemnon and the war; he is stubborn and will not fight.
During the funeral games, Achilles wants to go to battle and connect with the people of his culture. The reader realizes this and is forced to find out why Achilles has changed his mind. Going deeper and deeper into the text we see that Achilles is using others for the benefit of himself. Achilles used Agamemnon as an excuse to get out of the war. He called a meeting so that he could make Agamemnon look like a bad king when the seer told why Apollo was inflicting them with a plague. The seer told all the Greek men that it was Agamemnon's fault and he had to give his war prize of Chrysies back, taking the prize of Achilles in return.
Achilles leaves the war, saying he will never fight for Agamemnon again, but really he just wanted to wait for the right time to enter the war and win fast glory. Then, he used the Achaean fighters to make the Greeks need him back in the war. He prayed to Zeus to be on the Trojans side, killing an abundant number of Greeks, making them need Achilles to fight again in the war. Achilles needed a better reason then just gifts from Agamemnon to return to war because that would make him seem selfish. Consequently, he sent Patroclus into war, knowing he would be killed.
Achilles has created a way so he could go into war, saying he was avenging Patroclus death. He is using the funeral games to help the Greeks win the war. He is finally changing his whole attitude towards the idea of fighting for Agamemnon and the war. Everything Achilles has done has repeatedly displayed the desire to establish his power amongst the Greeks so he could be the master. Now that the reader knows the Greek men are just pawns on a chessboard to him and he can move them whenever, and wherever he may choose in order to win himself. Achilles role in The Iliad is to display the values of his society.
Achilles shows to the extreme measures in which he will take to achieve the dire goal of glory and immortality. Along the way, Achilles uses an important value in warfare, teamwork, to his advantage at any moment he sees fit. Achilles is always working toward accomplishing glory and immortality, therefore these values can be seen as an important part of life. The values can be described as a natural human urge, the need to establish power within a community. Achilles is a perfect example because the desire for glory comes naturally to him; he didnt have to be told to want it. Underneath every action of every man, there is a constant struggle for power and Achilles creates a vivid picture of this notion throughout the story.
To conclude with, I want to show my major findings about the heroic personages of Illiad and Aeneid. Though Achilles and Aeneas are definitely considered to be heroes by the people, both of them sometimes miss the special traits, which would make them perfect heroes. Unlike Aeneas, Achilles acts on his own. Though both know their fates, they take different approaches to them. Achilles uses his knowledge to strategically plan his life for his benefit (though his personal benefits bring the victory and glory to his people), and gods constantly guide Aeneas (though this also brings glory to his people).
The inner motives of the characters also differ. Achilles is concerned only with his own glory and immortality through the memory of Greek people. Contrary Aeneas is guided by the will of glorification of Roman gods. He wishes nothing for himself, acting altruistically and fulfilling the will of his gods. As for me I, believe that combining the features of both personages we can derive to something called a perfect or ultimate hero. Taking Achilles initiative, diplomacy, and strategic thinking; adding Aeneas obedience, bravery, nobleness we end up with the best possible hero.
Works Cited. Homer. The Iliad. Translated by Robert Fitzgerald. Anchor, 1975. ISBN: 0385059418 Virgil.
The Aeneid. Translated by Robert Fitzgerald. Vintage Books, 1990. ISBN: 0679729526
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