Juno In Aeneas Essay

The first intervention that Juno makes in Aeneas’ life is when she sends a storm to destroy his fleet of ships. He is trying to reach Italy, but she is determined for that not to happen. Juno approaches Aeolus, god of the winds, telling him the Trojans are “a race of people whom I hate”. She offers him Deiopea, the loveliest of her nymphs in marriage in return for him letting the winds loose on the Trojans. She says “swamp their ships, sink them, scatter them and pitch their bodies into the sea.” Juno hates the Trojans because Aeneas’ mother was chosen as the most beautiful goddess in the Judgement of Paris, a Trojan youth (Ganymede) was chosen to be Jupiter’s cup-bearer instead of Juno’s daughter, Hebe, and because she knows that in the future, it is fated for Aeneas’ Roman descendants to destroy her favourite city, Carthage.

Another intervention that Juno makes in
Aeneas’ life is during the destruction of Troy, she encourages the Greeks level Troy. Venus tells Aeneas of Juno’s participation in the destruction of Troy “Juno, with her sword by her side, is holding open the Scaean gates and summoning her beloved Greeks from their ships.” Juno’s intervention lead to Aeneas almost killing Helen for bringing about Troy’s destruction, but when Venus point out that the “merciless gods” were responsible, then he finally realises that Troy is doomed. As a result Aeneas is forced to flee Troy.

The effect of Juno’s intervention on Aeneas’ life is deep. In book 1 he is already doubting himself, after spending 7 years at sea, trying to find Latium. He hasn’t really had much guidance from the gods as to his destiny. Then when the storm comes, he says “my friends that died at Troy were four times luckier than I” and he wishes he had died at Troy. Aeneas suffers here from self-doubt and self-pity. He puts aside his role as a leader, instead focusing on his short comings.

When Juno intervenes again in Book 4 she wanted to divert Aeneas’ promised kingdom from Italy to Libya, so she planned for Aeneas and Dido to marry.
“Juno gave a sign: while the whole sky stood witness, the lightening flickered like a wedding torch, and the nymphs in the mountains wailed a wedding Hymn”. Venus played a role in the deception that led to a relationship between Dido and Aeneas as it amused her to trick Juno, she didn’t take into account the feelings of her son who developed strong feelings for Dido. Venus knows that Aeneas’ fate lies in Latium and his stop over is only temporary. However, she still agrees to Juno’s wedding plan. Dido’s and Aeneas’ relationship ultimately led to the neglect of Carthage as the rigorous training of its military stopped, construction of the citadel and harbour stopped and at the end of the day Carthage’s prosperity faltered. In the end Aeneas is given a message from Mercury to leave Carthage. Aeneas endures heartbreak as he sees how upset the news makes her “Half in pain and half in love, Aeneas longed to comfort her and soothe her and talk away the
grief”.

Virgil clearly wants to reflect the Roman views of the gods during the Augustan era. This was a time when Augustus was determined to revive traditional Roman religion, as many people felt that the years of civil war were due to the neglect of the gods. He rebuilt 83 temples in Rome, re-instated priest roles and even created some new priesthoods. The Theory behind this revival was that the gods would look favourable upon Rome and not allow any more civil wars. Romans had a contractual relationship with gods. The word “religio” means linking, showing that they believed saying prayers, and doing sacrifices that the gods didn’t care about them personally. Juno’s relentless pressure on Aeneas and her determination to thwart the Trojans reflected this belief.