Comparing Virgil s Aeneid And Homer s Odyssey - 2766 Words

Journey, fate, conflict and divine intervention demonstrate the morals and ideas of the age and cultures in which both Virgil and Homer lived. The lives of the main characters, Odysseus and Aeneas must fulfill their destiny with direct interference from the Gods and Goddesses. With the gods and goddess not always sharing the same motives or best interest of the main character would make the journey to achieve their destiny extremely difficult. The gods and goddess can be vengeful just as much as they can be helpful to the main characters. â€Å"They are volatile, unpredictable, and fickle forces without limit and forces that cannot be altered once set into motion, unless an equal force intervences.†1 In both Virgil’s Aeneid and Homer’s Odyssey†¦show more content†¦They call Homer the educator of all Greece. Showing that his impact on the Greek culture was great. â€Å"Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy. Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds, many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea, fighting to save his life and bring his comrades home. But he could not save them from disaster, hard as he strove- the recklessness of their own ways destroyed them all, the blind fools, the devoured cattle of the Sun and the Sun god blotted out the day of their return. Launch out on his story, Muse, daughter of Zeus, start from where you will-sing for our time too. â€Å"3 This opening statement foreshadows the end of the epic. Odysseus was the lone survivor and shows how this came to be. Odysseus without any real concern for anyone but himself has done what is in the best interest of himself and not what is in the best interest of the whole. In the Odyssey, Odysseus is on a journey home to his wife and son in Ithaca. He faces many obstacles and interferences from the gods and goddesses. The story starts ten years of the Trojan War took place. Odysseus is on the island with the goddess Calypso. She fell in love