Aeneid And Odysseus Similarities

Odysseus and Aeneas both visit the Underworld; in Odysseus' case, in Book XII of Homer's Odyssey, and in Aeneas' case, in Book VI of Virgil's Aeneid. In discussing the differences between the two treatments of the Underworld episodes, it is imporcant to first outline the similarities in the two situations:

Odysseus and Aeneas both journey to the Underworld in order to receive knowledge. Previous mythological warrior-heroes went there to fulfill a more specific, tangible purpose eg. Heracles' borrowing of Cerberus and Orpheus plea for the return of his wife Eurydice. The atypical purposes for the visits of our heroes leads to a logical conclusion: simce the Odyssey predates the Aeneid and we know Virgil to have been familiar with the earlier
Rebirth, actual and spiritual, follows. Odysseus, dehumanised by his gruesome experiences at Troy, is symbolically cleansed, so that he may return to Ithaca fit for leadership. Aeneas, on the other hand, is purged of the human qualities which he possesed beforehand by the revelations of his great destiny in the scene known as the Parade of Future Roman leaders. In order to be the paterfamilias of an entire people, as he is destined to become, he must free himself of human frailty and doubt and become the unquestioning servant of fate. Aeneas' ultimate role as divine instrument is reminiscent of the prophets of the Hebrew
Homer promotes the strict social laws that governed libations and the burial of the dead by means of Odysseus' recounting of the entire libatory ritual and the regretful incident with the unburied Elpenor. On the other hand, Virgil pomotes both the importance of family: Aeneas' revelations come to him through Anchises, his father; and the divinity and suzeranity of the Emperor Augustus by revealing his lineage to be through Aeneas' son Iulus, thus ultimately he is decended from the Olympians - Aeneas was the son of Venus who was generally held to be the daughter of Jupiter. The Odyssey, as a Primary Epic, was part of an ancient oral tradition and its civic purposes were to entertain, remind people of the power of the gods and ensure that customs such as burial and libations remain honored. The Aeneid, however, is a Secondary Epic, but, crucially, an early piece of propaganda, written in order to encourage piety and fealty to the gods, to the emperor, to Rome, to your comrades in arms, and to your family, in that