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Aeneas Vs Odysseus

626 Words3 Pages

Odysseus is the heroic character from The Odyssey by Homer, and Aeneas is the heroic character from The Aeneid by Virgil. Both men had fought on opposite sides of the Trojan War, a war fought at Troy. Odysseus fought for Greece, while Aeneas fought for Rome. Along with these basic things, the two heroes do have similarities, as well as differences. Both Odysseus and Aeneas are on a journey to get to home. However, their character as men are not alike; Aeneas is very “duty-driven”, while Odysseus is driven mainly by his own self-interest. Virgil makes his character, Aeneas, an opposite to Odysseus in this way to express the difference between their cultures. To start, both men, Odysseus and Aeneas, are on a journey. After the war is fought and has ended, Odysseus is attempting to return …show more content…

Aeneas is Roman and Odysseus is Greek. To show how much more victorious the Roman culture is in comparison to the Greek culture, Virgil creates Aeneas to be the perfect Roman hero. Virgil sees the Greek culture as being one that is not taken seriously due to the members of that culture being driven by self-interest. Whereas, the Roman culture is a successful one because of their duty oriented mindsets. In conclusion, the two men have very profound similarities and differences. Aeneas and Odysseus are both on a similar journey, one to get home, and one to find a place to make home. The two men have different characters; duty-driven and self-interest-driven. Virgil writes The Aeneid the way he does in order to express is opinion that the Roman culture is a better, more victorious culture than the Greek culture.
Works Cited
Lawall, Sarah N., and Maynard Mack. “The Odyssey.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Norton, 2001, pp. 225–530.
Lawall, Sarah N., and Maynard Mack. “The Aeneid.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Norton, 2001, pp.

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