AENEAS AND
THE
UNDERWORLD
BK 6
ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS AS
STATEMENTS
1. Who built the temple to Apollo and what scenes did he
decorate it with? (pg 147)
2. What did the Trojans have to do before consulting the
Sibyl?
3. What does the sibyl promise to the Trojans? (one word)
(149)
4. Why is the descent to Avernus easy? What is the hard
part of the journey Aeneas wants to undertake? (151)
5. What does Aeneas have to take to the underworld as a
gift to Proserpine? (151)
6. Where is the entrance to the underworld? (154)
7. What kind of creatures does Aeneas meet on entering
the underworld? (155-156)
8. Why does Charon refuse to ferry some souls over the
Styx? (157)
9. Which friend does Aeneas meet there? Where did he
die?
10. Where are the Fields of Mourning, and who does Aeneas
meet there? (160)
11. In the fields of warriors, Aeneas meets Deiphobus.
What happened to him?
12. What happens to the incurably evil? (164)
13. Where is Anchises? What is he doing? (167)
14. Why are souls crowding at the river Lethe? (168)
15. Why does Anchises point out Augustus immediately
after Romulus? (170-171)
16. What are to be Rome’s special skills?
17. Who is the young Marcellus/ Why does night flit
around his head (173)
18. How does Aeneas leave the underworld?
Answers to questions
1. Daedalus built the temple and decorated it with
scenes from the myth of the minotaur of Crete
2. Sacrifice (7 bullocks and 7 sheep) to Apollo
3. War
4. It is easy to get to Avernus by dying but coming
back is the hard part
5. The golden bough
6. A cave by Lake Avernus
7. Monstous beasts and afflictions such as disease
and pain
8. If they are not buried they must wait 100 years
9. Palinurus, who died on the voyage from Sicily to
Italy
10. Across the Styx. Dido
11. He was killed and mutilated by Menelaus,
Helen’s first husband.
12. They go to Tartarus
13. Elysium, surveying the shades who would be his
descendants.
14. They drink the waters of Lethe to forget their
past life before returning to earth to live again
15. Virgil links Romulus and Augustus to honour
Augustus
16. Guiding nations (govt) and giving peace
17. Nephew and son-in-law of Augustus, who died
young (aged 19)
18. By the Gate of Ivory (gate of false dreams)
DO NOW – ACTIVITY
• YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE TO
STUDY THE NEXT SLIDE AND
REMEMBER AS MANY
WORDS AS POSSIBLE
• NO PENS ALLOWED
VOCAB JUMBLE
• Cumae Italy hades
Anchises Augustus
Deiphobus Sibyl Cerbeus
Schyaeus Dido
Minos Caesar
Lethe Baachus
Cato Livius Drusus
PREDICTION
• What are we going to be doing
this period that will include all
of those words you studied??
ACTIVITY
• GO THROUGH THE CLOZE
EXERCISE THAT YOU
RECEIVED YESTERDAY
Answers to the cloze exersice
The Trojans ships arrive in Italy, near CUMAE.
While the men prepare camp, Aeneas c limbs
to the temple of APOLLO to consult Deiphobe.
At the sanctuary, Aeneas sacrifices BULLS and
SHEEP and offers PRAYERS to the god. The
SYBIL appears to him and answers his
questions. She also tells him o the wars he will
fight and the ENEMIES he will face. Aeneas
asks to be guided into HADES and despite the
dangers the sybil mentions, he perseveres. She
agress to take him and tells him what he has to
do in order to gain admittance which he carries
out.
At the start of the underworld Aeneas must pass
many evil SPIRITS and horrible BEASTS these
FRIGHTEN him but his courage helps him
through and eventually the two mortals arrive
at the river ACHERON. Here, many souls line
the banks waiting to cross on the FERRY.
Among them is the soul of PALINURUS (the
drowned helmsman) and Aeneas promises him
a proper BURIAL which cheers him up. Initially
the feryman, CHARON, refuses to take the
living beings across the river but when Deiphoe
shows him the GOLDEN BOUGH he consents,
taking the two across the Acheron and the
STYX into Hades proper.
Answers to the cloze exersice
On the way to Elysium they must pass
through the various regions of the
underworld. They land at the place that
is allotted to those that died in
INFANCY. After this they pass through
the area reserved for SUICIDES where
Aeneas recognises DIDO. He tearfully
begs her FORGIVENESS but she refuses
to speak to him. Next is the area set
aside for great WARRIORS where he
meets and talks to many heroes from
the Trojan War. Next they come to a
fortress surrounded by high walls and a
river of FIRE. This place is TARTARUS,
where sinners are imprisoned and suffer
dreadful PUNISHMENTS. Finally, the
pair readch a pleasant area where
blessed and righteous souls spend their
time: this is the ELYSIAN Fields.
Answers to the cloze exersice
Aeneas meets his FATHER here and they
embrace with great affection.
ANCHISES shows Aeneas a large group
of people drinking from the river LETHE
(the river of FORGETFULNESS) so they
can return to earth to live again. As
they walk by this group, Anchises points
out many of those who will later
become famous ROMANS. In doing so,
Anchises is giving Aeneas a short
summary of the history of ROME.
Amony the famous people are Silvius
(Aeneas’ as yet unborn SON),
ROMULUS (founder of Rome), early
kings of Rome, many heroes and
political figures of the Roman Republic.
The last figures they come to are Julius
Caesar and his nephew AUGUSTUS who
will be the greatest leader and ruler in
Roman history.
Answers to the cloze
exersice
As father and son wander
through ELYSIUM, Anchises
tells Aeneas of his future wars
and victories. All this
knowledge of Rome and his
own destiny in it, fires Aeneas
to achieve all that has been
fated for him. Aeneas bids
farewell to his father and is
taken back to earth by the
Sibyl. He rejoins the fleet and
they continue their voyage.
AENEAS’ PRAYER
Phoebus you have always pitied Troy in her grievous
suffering. It was you who guided the hands of Paris
when he aimed his Dardan arrow to strike Achilles
the Aeacid. It was you who led me forth to sail over
all those seas which thrust against eh vast continents
and to force a way even to nations of the remote
Massylians and lands screened by the Syrtes. Now
at last we have gained a foothold in Italy’s elusive
shores. From now on, let Troy’s old ill-fortune
pursue us no farther. And you too, all Gods and
Goddesses, who were jealous of Ilium and the too
brillian grandeur of our Dardan land, may now,
with no violation of divine justice, spare the nation
which held the fortress of Troy. And you, most holy
Prophetess, who foreknow the future, since I ask no
empire which my destiny cannot rightly claim,
permit my Trojans, and their vagrant deities, the
Powers and Patrons of Troy tossed with us in strom,
to find in Latium a home. There I shall inaugurate
a temple all of marble for Apollo and Trivia with
festal days called by Apollo’s name; and for you
yourself, benign Lady, there shall also be in my
realm a noble shrine where I shall store your
oracular lots, with the prophetic secrets which you
communicate to my people; and I shall choose and
consecrate priests for your service. Only, pray, do
not commit your prophecies to leaves for they might
fly in disorder as playthings for the grasping winds; I
beg of you to chant in words of your own.’
The gate of Ivory and
the gate of Horn
Aeneas leaves and returns to his
fleet, but the way he left has
aroused controversy among
critics ever since. There are
two gates of sleep which act as
ways out from Hades. One is
made of horn and allows out
true shadows. The other is
ivory, which sends false dreams
to people, and Aeneas leaves
by this gate. What does this
mean?
• That Aeneas was living and not
a true shade?
• That it was all a flase dream?
• That the pursuit of Roman
greatness is a vain hope?
• That the truth or falseness of
Aeneas’ experience will depend
o nthe actions of Aeneas and
his descendants?
• Symbolism plays a large part in
Virgil’s poetry so it is not surprising
critics look for hidden meanings
here, but it is possible that the exit
by the gate of horn is purely
practical. Ancient people attached
great importance to dreams but
recognised that not all dreams were
signficant. Possibly they believed
dreams before midnight were false
while dreams after midnight were
true. Did Aeneas and the Sibyl have
to leave before midnight, as a
condition allowing them to visit the
underworld. If so, they had to use
the only gate open, the gate of
ivory.
IMAGERY OF BK6
Virgil does not use many similes in book 6
as his scenes in the underworld bear
little comparisonm to real life. Two
comparisons however, stand out.
• Pg156 the vast numbers of souls waiting
to cross the river to the underworld are
compared to the many leaves which die
and fall in autumn, or the flocks of birds
which gather to migrate south in winter.
Here the falling leaves and departing
birds echo the melancholy and loss of
death.
• Pg 160-61 A. sees Dido dimly through
the shadows of the underworld, like a
man glimpsing the thin new moon
through clouds. This similie emphasises
the gloom of the underworld and the
lack of substance of souls mere shadows
of their former selves.
ANSWER THESE
QUESTIONS
1. How does Virgil build up an
atmosphere of mystery and
supernatural awe in BK6?
2. Why is it clear A. hazs a
divine destiny?
3. How does A. display Pietas in
bk6?
4. What messages does he learn
in the underworld? From
whom does he learn them?
ANSWERS
1. Virgil builds up an atmosphere of mystery and
supernatural awe by:
– Description of temple at Cumae
– Behaviour of the Sibyl in giving her
prophecies
– Burial of Misenus
– Religious rituals before entering the
underworld
– The collection of gloomy spirts at the start
– Sadness of the helpless unburied
– Grimness of eternal punishments
2. A. found and plucked the golden bough, his
passport to the underworld. The Sibyl
accompanied him, and he was able to return.
3. He overcame all obstacles and horrors to meet
his father
4. Messages include:
– Look forward not back
– Dead souls are reborn
– Rome has a glorious future of heroes and
empire
– Rome’s mission is to conquer and rule in
peace with law
– Augustus will bring back a new Golden Age.