Guided Reading Questions
and Themes for
The Aeneid
Your answers to the questions must be completed electronically (I will send you a copy of this file to assist you in this). I have typed the word “Answer” in blue to facilitate my grading of this assignment. As you read through the Aeneid and answer the questions, double click on the word “Answer” and begin typing your response. In doing so, your answer will appear in blue and create a legible format for checking your work.Please save this assignment with your first and last name.
Essentially, you have three parts to the assignment (pars prīma, pars secunda, and pars tertia) with three due dates associated with them. These dates are dynamic and meant to give you a guide for the summer. The dates below are flexible and meant to give you a pacing schedule.
Ultimately the questions and responses are due Friday, August 12th.
pars prīmaby midnight, June 14th
pars secundaby midnight, July 5th
pars tertiaby midnight, July26th
Your task is to read, in English, Books 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, & 12 and answer the associated questions included here. For the books from the Aeneid that you do not have to read, I have included summaries in this guide. Please make sure you have read these in order to understand the narrative more thoroughly. If an any time you have a questions, please feel free to e-mail me .
It is my hope that you will enjoy this epic as much as I do. It speaks to anyone embarking on a journey in life, which we will do together as we prepare to study Vergil’s magnum opus.
All the summaries of the books you do not have to read for the AP syllabus are included to add continuity to the story and bridge any gaps in the story. The summaries of the books you are to read (taken from CliffsNotes) in English will NOT be sufficient in answering the questions in these guided reading questions.
McDougall, Richard, and Suzanne Pavols.CliffsNotes on Aeneid.09 Jul 2015
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Guided Reading Questions and Themes
for
TheAeneid
(pars prīma)
The Aeneid, Book 1
1.What is the theme of the Aeneid?
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2.Who is the muse of epic poetry?
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3.What was Aeneas’ purpose in leaving his homeland and coming to Italy?
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4.Where was Aeneas’ homeland?
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5.What people, according to Vergil, were the original inhabitants of Carthage?
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6.Why was the goddess Juno particularly interested in Carthage?
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7.What had Juno heard about the future relations between Rome and Carthagae?
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8.Why was Juno resentful against Athena?
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9.Who is Aeolus and what hindrance does he cause the Trojans?
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10.What bribe does Juno use to persuade Aeolus?
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11.Who are Eurus, Notus, and Africus?
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12.Describe Aeneas the first time the reader encounters him.
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13.What happens to Orontes ship?
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14.Whom does Neptune suspect of instigating the storm?
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15.How does Neptune calm the story?
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16.Who is Achates? What does he do when the Trojans reach shore?
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17. Where does Aeneas go after the ships have landed on the coast of Africa?
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18. What does Aeneas hope to see?
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19. What does Aeneas spy wandering on the shore?
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20. How did Aeneas supply his survivors with a substantial meal?
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21. Of what promise does Venus remind Jupiter?
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22. Whom does Venus blame for the misfortunes of Aeneas?
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23. List the prophecies that Jupiter names to reassure Venus.
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24. Why does Jupiter send Mercury to Carthage?
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25. What is the twofold effect of Mercury’s mission to Carthage?
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26. What does Jupiter predict for the reign of Augustus besides the end of wars?
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27. Where does Aeneas hide his fleet?
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28. Under what circumstances does Aeneas meet his mother Venus?
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29. How is Venus dressed and why is she dressed this way?
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30. Who does Aeneas think Venus is?
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31. What information does Aeneas ask of Venus?
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32. Who is Pygmalion and what has he done?
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33. Who is Sychaeus?
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34. How did Dido secure the land when she arrived in Carthage?
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35. Why does Venus conceal Achates and Aeneas in a cloud?
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36. What is the significance of the horse’s head?
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37. List and describe the scenes on the temple in Carthage.
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38. What effect do these scenes have on Aeneas?
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39.Who is Ilioneus? What requests does he make of Dido?
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40. How does Dido propose to help the Trojans if they choose to go to Italy or Sicily?
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41.How long does Aeneas say his will remember Dido and her kindness?
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42.Why is Dido willing to sympathize with Aeneas?
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43.What act of courtesy does Dido first perform for Aeneas?
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44.Why does Aeneas tell Achates to bring Ascanius from the ship?
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The Aeneid, Book 2
1.Where is Aeneas when he begins his story?
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2.Which goddess, according to Aeneas, helps the Greeks fashion the horse?
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3.Describe the horse in as much detail as possible.
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4.What and where is Tenedos?
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5.Describe the reaction of the Trojans when they believe the Greeks had left.
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6.What advice concerning the horse do the following give:
Capys
Laocoön
Sinon
Cassandra
7.Sinon, so Aeneas says, represents all the Greeks. What qualities do the Trojans associate with the Greeks?
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8.What is Sinon’s story?
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9.Who are Palamades, Calchas, Diomedes, Andromache, Astynax?
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10.What is the Palladium?
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11.What happened, according to Sinon, to the Palladium when it was brought into the Greek Camp?
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12.What do the snakes that kill Laocoön and his sons represent?
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13.Describe the deaths of Laocoön and his sons.
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14.Who opens the horse?
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15.Who were some of the men in the horse?
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16.Describe Hector’s appearance to Aeneas.
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17.What message did Hector give Aeneas?
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18.What does Aeneas see when he looks outside after Hector’s visit?
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19.How does Aeneas address the warriors?
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20.How do Aeneas and his men dress for fighting?
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21.What happens to Cassandra?
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22.Describe the scene at Priam’s palace.
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23.Who is Pyrrhus/Neoptolemus?
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24.At the altar, who are the “doves”?
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25.How does Priam die? Are you sympathetic toward Priam?
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26.What does Venus tell Aeneas?
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27.Where does Aeneas see Helen? What is his reaction? Why does he not kill her?
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28.According to Venus, who is the cause of the Trojan War?
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29.Why does Anchises first refuse to leave Troy?
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30.What causes Anchises to change his mind?
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31.How does Aeneas and his family escape from the city?
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32.What happens to Creusa? What message does she have for Aeneas?
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33.Describe the group gathered at the mound of Ceres?
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The Aeneid, Book 3
Continuing his account of how the Trojans came to present-day Libya's shores, Aeneas relates how, at the beginning of the summer following Troy's destruction, the Trojans built a fleet of ships and set forth to seek a new homeland. They landed first in Thrace — now a region in northern Turkey — and were establishing a settlement there when the voice of the dead Polydorus, Priam's youngest son, spoke from deep within the earth and warned Aeneas to flee the kingdom. Priam, who wanted Polydorus out of harm's way during the Trojan War, had entrusted him to the protection of Thrace's king, who had been Troy's ally. The Thracian king, however, had shifted his allegiance to the Greeks during the war and then treacherously killed Polydorus.
After performing funeral rites for Polydorus, the Trojans left bloodstained Thrace and sailed to the island of Delos, sacred to Apollo, from whom Aeneas sought counsel. Apollo declared through his oracle — his priest, through whose mouth he spoke — that the Trojans should seek their "mother of old," which Anchises, Aeneas's father, understood to be Crete, a kingdom ruled by Teucrus, an ancestor of the Trojans.
Following a ritualistic sacrifice to the gods, the Trojans sailed to Crete and attempted to found a city, but their efforts were thwarted by a sudden plague that brought a year of death to humans and crops alike. Anchises then proposed that they return to Delos and again consult the oracle, but this voyage was made unnecessary when Troy's hearth gods told Aeneas in a vision that Apollo's oracle had meant that they should go to Hesperia — Italy — the ancestral home of another ancestor, Dardanus.
On the right track at last, the Trojans again set forth toward Italy, but soon they were driven off course by a storm that forced them to take refuge on one of the Strophadës, a group of islands in the Ionian Sea. Here, Harpies, vicious bird-women, assailed them. The Trojans defended themselves as best they could, and Celaeno, the Harpies's leader, prophesied that after the Trojans reached Italy, famine would drive them to eat their tables as a punishment for their violence against her race.
The Trojans fled from the island and sailed north along the western coast of Greece to Actium, where they spent several months and held athletic contests. From here, they journeyed to Buthrotum, where they were welcomed warmly by the prophet Helenus, a son of Priam, and his wife, Andromachë, the widow of Hector, for whom she still grieved. Helenus warned Aeneas that many trials would still have to be overcome before the voyagers reached Italy, where Aeneas's discovery of a white sow with a litter of thirty young would indicate the site upon which he was to found his city. Telling Aeneas how best to avoid danger while at sea, including the monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis, Helenus also advised him to consult the sibyl of Cumae and to appease Juno's hatred by remembering to offer sacrifices to her.
Andromachë recounted how she and Helenus came to rule together, and provided Aeneas with the information that Pyrrhus, who killed Priam and his son Politës in Book II, was killed by Orestes. Ironically, Pyrrhus's death occurred "before his father's altar," a fitting site for his demise when we remember how cruelly he treated Priam by slaying Politës in front of the Trojan king.
After Aeneas exchanged gifts with his hosts and bid them farewell, the Trojans sailed north to Ceraunia. Here they spent the night and then crossed over to the heel of the Italian peninsula, where Aeneas offered prayers to Pallas and sacrifices to Juno, according to Helenus's instructions. They then sailed across the Gulf of Taranto and, after escaping Scylla and Charybdis, landed on the coast of Sicily, where they spent a fearful night near Mount Aetna, a volcano.
The next morning, the Trojans were accosted by a Greek, Achaemenidës, a member of Ulysses's company, who had been left behind accidentally when his companions fled the Cyclops Polyphemus. He begged the Trojans to take him with them or else kill him, which he said would be a better fate than remaining alone, for not only Polyphemus, whom Ulysses blinded, lived in the region, but many other Cyclopes as well. Polyphemus and other Cyclopes then appeared, and the Trojans fled, taking Achaemenidës with them.
They sailed along the coast of Sicily and finally reached Drepanum, where Anchises, Aeneas's father, died. After burying him, they set sail again and encountered the storm that drove them to Carthage. At this point, Aeneas ends his story.
The Aeneid, Book 4
1.Who deliberately caused Dido to fall in love with Aeneas?
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2.To what does Vergil compare the emotionally disturbed Dido?
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3.Describe Dido and Aeneas as they prepare for the hunt.
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4.What phenomena of nature during the cave scene are sad presages of the future of Dido?
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5.Who is Fama? Describe her.
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6.Who is Iarbas and how does he react to the report of Dido’s affair with Aeneas?
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7.Why does Jupiter send Mercury to Aeneas?
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8.How does Dido learn of Aeneas’ planned departure?
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9.In the conversation between Dido and Aeneas, what accusations does Dido make?
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10.What things influence Dido in her resolve to die?
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11.What misfortunes does Dido pray might come to Aeneas and the Trojans?
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12.Describe Dido’s suicide?
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13.What last services does Anna render to Dido?
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14.What role does Iris play in the suicide of Dido? Why is she a necessary agent in Dido’s suicide?
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Study Guide
for
TheAeneid
(pars secunda)
The Aeneid, Book 5
As the Trojan fleet leaves Carthage behind, Aeneas sees flames lighting the city, and although he is unaware that the fire is from Dido's funeral pyre, he fears for his former lover because he knows that thwarted love has made her desperate. Soon thereafter, an immense storm threatens the ships, and Aeneas follows his pilot Palinurus's advice and sails for Sicily, taking refuge at Drepanum. From there, a year earlier, the Trojans had set out for Italy, only to be swept off course to Carthage. Once again, King Acestës receives them hospitably.
The next morning, Aeneas summons his people and announces that he is going to celebrate funeral rites in memory of his father, Anchises, who died on their previous visit to Drepanum and was buried here. Additionally, Aeneas will hold various athletic games in Anchises's honor. He then makes ceremonial sacrifices at his father's tomb, in the course of which a giant serpent appears. The serpent's puzzling presence seems harmless.
There follows a lengthy description of the athletic games: a hectic rowing contest, in which four ships of the fleet compete strenuously with one another; a foot race, in which Nisus, who falls and loses his own chance of winning, unscrupulously trips another competitor in order to ensure that his beloved friend, Euryalus, will win; a bloody prizefight between two muscular boxers, the Trojan Darës and Entellus, a subject of Acestës; and a display of archery skills made memorable by the flight of an arrow, shot by Acestës, which portentously bursts into flame and disappears from sight. The contests are followed by a cavalry display by the young men, including Ascanius, who will become the forefather of the Romans.
At this point, the happy occasion is spoiled by Juno: She sends the goddess Iris to stir up discontent among the Trojan women, who are tired of traveling and would like to settle permanently in Drepanum. Disguised as one of the women, Iris incites them to set fire to the Trojan ships. Fortunately, Aeneas is notified in time to address prayers for help to Jupiter, who sends a rainstorm that douses the fire, sparing all but four of the ships from destruction.
Aeneas, after wondering if it might be best to forgo his destiny and settle on Sicily, decides to permit the dissenters who want to remain on Sicily to do so. He is encouraged in this plan by Nautës, a Trojan elder, and by Anchises, who appears to him at night in a vision and informs him that shortly they will meet in the underworld after Aeneas has landed in Italy. With the warm approval of Acestës, Sicilian land for a settlement is divided among the Trojans who wish to stay.
After nine days of feasting and sacrificing to honor the site of the new Trojan city, Aeneas and his remaining companions set sail in their refurbished ships for Italy. All appears to be going well, but Venus, concerned as ever for the security of her son and his people, asks Neptune to guarantee a safe journey for the Trojans. Neptune promises to do as Venus asks, but he tells her that one Trojan must be sacrificed in return for the safety of the rest.
That night, Somnus, the god of sleep, causes Palinurus, who keeps watch in the lead ship, to drowse and fall into the sea — he is the sacrifice that Neptune demanded for calm seas. Aeneas, aware that the ship is out of control, takes over the steering, lamenting the loss of his faithful pilot. Book V ends with landfall near.
The Aeneid, Book 6
1.When they arrive in Cumae, what did each group of youths and Aeneas do?
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2.Describe the doors of Apollo’s temple.
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3.Who is the Sibyl and what tasks does she impose on Aeneas?
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4.What are the Sibyl’s prophecies?
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5.Who is Misenus? What has happened to him? What do the Trojans do when they find his corpse?