Virgil And The Aeneid

Myths have been used throughout history to serve a multitude of purposes. Whether it may be to communicate stories, to teach lessons and/or convey ethical messages. They ultimately aim to shape a cultural understanding of a country, which can be passed on through generations to provide social traditions, a country’s heritage and to form values.
Myths aim to emphasise the ancient and heroic aspects of a civilisation, fundamentally through the utilisation of symbolism and artistic license, and are still used today to serve as a basis for a society’s cultural history.

The Romans, among many other cultures, exhibited an abundant mythology of their own, even though a great number of it was embraced from Greek culture. This can be based upon the
fact that when Rome was founded in the 8th century BC, there already was a large formation of Greek city-states, as well as Greek colonies being established in Sicily and on the Italian peninsula. Through this correspondence with Greece, the effect of Greek mythology as well as religion was recognised in Rome in its ornamentation of sculptures, architecture and even in their philosophy. However, what differentiated Roman mythology from that of Greek myth was that the Romans generally viewed their traditional stories as historical, even though the majority of their narratives encompassed elements that were supernatural and inexplicable. The polarity between myth and history in Roman mythology was practically identical. Another important contrast between the two cultures is that a great deal of Greek mythology was communicated through their drama and poetry, while a lot of the Roman myths were composed in writing, ultimately contributing a sense of history and a basis of all that was Roman: their customs and practices.

The theology of the early Romans was significantly altered by a number of conflicting beliefs being introduced in later times as well as through the incorporation of an extensive portion of Greek mythology until such time as the native religions of the Roman Empire were eventually and entirely replaced by Christianity. However, prior to the replacing of their ancient religion, the Romans had an abundant pantheon of their own with religious rituals that were very long-lasting, which derived from the small farming region that ultimately made up the ancient village of Rome. The foundations of Roman mythology included many deities which were personifications of almost every aspect of life that offered assistance to the community whilst inhabiting all living things as well as objects. Through sacrifice, the Romans would give these spirits gifts in return for favours that the particular deity was responsible for. For example, Terminus, the god of boundaries was given gifts with the expectation that property boundaries would be protected. These spirits were known as numina and could be a part of almost every object or abstraction. This ideology was the accepted system in early Rome, which subsequently took source in a more distinctly established methodology of gods known as Numen; the belief in a pantheistic possession of all things. With this belief set, every Roman family and their household was thought to be appointed with a guardian deity known as the Lar Familiaris.
These deities were believed to have stayed with a person for life and enabled them to develop, grow and to conduct oneself in a way that is moral within society.

The essence of Roman religion continued to grow to count for emperors due to the enactment of the Roman Republic into an Imperial system. One of the first emperors to idolise himself as a direct descendent of king Aeneas was Julius Caesar. To a large extent, this approach was originally rejected by the people of Rome, however, due to the high admiration of Caesar, the system became into enactment, which helped prepare the way for future emperors. The introduction of the deify of emperors required sacrificial practices as well as the obligatory ideology in the entire pantheon. This gave rise to considerable conflict with the early Christians as they rejected all forms of emperor deify, which resulted in a significant quantity of Christians becoming persecuted and killed. The worship of emperors continued until the reign of Constantine in the western Empire. Constantine in 4th century AD then completely eradicated emperor deification and replaced it with Christianity, which then formed the Roman religion. However, later emperors still attempted to re-establish emperor worship, but the deep roots of Christianity were already firmly embedded within Roman society and in 392 AD, Emperor Theodosius I prohibited all pagan and irreligious practices, thus enabling Christianity as the official religion of the Roman state.

Throughout the earliest periods of Rome, the relationship between myth and history has been interrelated and complementary.
The main documentation for Roman mythology include the first few books of Livy’s history, the Aeneid of Virgil and the fourth book of elegies by Propertius. Another significant source is the Fasti of Ovid, which is a six-book poem that was constructed by the Roman religious calendar. In Fasti, Ovid depicted the myths of the gods and the roots of their rituals as well as the festivals of the first six months of the Roman calendar. However, whilst the foundation of Rome differs between several sources, one of the most ancient to recount the tale was Virgil in his Aeneid, which has been said to present the most reputable account of Roman mythology. This story narrated the voyages of the Roman hero, Aeneas who was a Trojan warrior. In the tale, the goddess Venus helps her son, Aeneas, escape from Troy along with a number of his fellow soldiers before the city becomes conquered by the Greeks. It is through this story as well as its link to the Trojan War which gave the Romans a relationship to the ancient Trojan society. This war ultimately gave rise to the founding of Rome story along with the most famous Roman myth, the birth of Romulus and Remus. This ancient tale has several variations from many different authors such as Plutarch, Livy, Ovid and Virgil. The story encompasses twin boys who were suckled by a she-wolf after being thrown into the river Tiber
by Amulius, the king. It is in this story that one of the twins, Romulus, becomes the founder of the city of Rome. The early civilians of Rome even built a bronze life-size statue of a she-wolf with two children suckling on her as a symbol for their city in commemoration of Rome’s foundation story.

Roman gods were anthropomorphic and portrayed many humanly qualities and emotions such as love, jealousy and hate. Due to this, the people of Rome were able to relate and see themselves in these stories, enabling them to understand their connection to the rest of the world as well as their relationship to the gods. A number of these myths also had a main lesson to be learnt, which was that one must use strength, perseverance and bravery in order to meet their own fate. Many gods and goddesses represented elements. Water gods were of crucial importance to the farmers, as every watercourse had its own deity. For example, Tiberius was the god of the river Tiber and on the 27th of May each year, farmers would throw dummies made out of straw into the Tiber river to appease him.
This is comparable with the traditional Roman belief in apparitions, the ideology that spirits inhabited everything around them including people and objects.

Overall, Roman mythology still very much in present day defines the rich history of the Roman people as they eventually grew into an empire.
Although reflecting a considerable amount of Greek myth, Roman mythology still formed a strong mythological basis that founded the Roman culture and their religion. To the Romans, myth was able to allow the people to gain an understanding of who they were and gave them a sense of national honour. The stories the Romans told were often concerned with politics and morality, and how an individual’s personal integrity connects to his or her duty to the community or Roman state. For many Romans, myths built a sense sustainability by providing protection as they explored a multitude of valuable issues, including the creation of the planet, the contrast of good and evil and life after death. The influence of Roman mythology continues to live on today, with many scenes from Roman tales featuring in wall paintings, sculptures, artworks and architecture in present day Rome. The history of Rome is rich in tradition, myths and legends, reflecting many different aspects of ancient Roman culture and religion, with their tales having stood the test of time and embedding themselves in present day
culture.