­ Books 1­6: The Odyssean part
Aeneas as a wandering hero like Odysseus. His god­sent mission is to found a new city.
Essentially, once the Greeks sack Troy, Aeneas and some Trojan ships escape to found a new Troy ­ Books 7­12: The Iliadic part
Aeneas and the Trojans at war with the Italians and their allies. The Roman Hero ­ Aeneas’ epithet: pious
­ Roman heroism: is on behalf of the community, not the individual. [self sacrifice]
­ Stoicism: Aeneas subsumes his personal desires for the good of the community
[unlike Greek heroes who are very individualistic] Book 1: Aeneas in Carthage The wrath of Juno
­ Angry, juno asks Aeolus [master of wind] to drive the Trojan ships off course, shipwreck them if possible
­ The bribe: she offers Aeolus the lovely nymph Deiopeia
­ Result: one shipwreck before Neptune calms the sea Arrival in Libya
­ Aeneas puts into shore with only 7 ships from his fleet
­ He gives a pep talk to his men, recalling the horrors they have already survived
(Scylla, land of the cyclopes, etc.) Venus’ appeal and Jupiters prophercy
­ While the Trojans recover onshore, Aeneas’ mother Venus approaches her father
Jupiter on behalf of her son
­ Jupiter had promised that Aeneas would successfully found a new city Dido and Carthage
­ Jupiter sends Mercury down to make Dido and her people receptive to the Trojans
­ Meanwhile, Aeneas encounters his disguised mother, who tells him Dido’s history
[Dido has sworn never to love or marry since the death of her husband] The temple of Juno
­ Hidden in a cloud, Aeneas goes into Carthage. He sees the temple of Juno, it’s walls painted with scenes from the Trojan war

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We know from this that the Carthaginians are civilized; the Carthaginians are very sympathetic to the events his city Troy suffered

Dido assaulted by Eros
­ While Venus and Cupid infect Dido with eros for Aeneas, Aeneas tell the
Carthaginians about the fall of Troy
­ Book 2: The fall of Troy from the Trojan POV. The ghost of Hector, the gods fighting, death of Creusa
­ Book 3: Aeneas’ wanderings, from Thrace, Crete, Sicily to Carthage Book 4: Dido/Cleopatra
­ This book troubles many modern readers, since it seems to portray Aeneas in a bad light ­ May represent Cleopatra and Ceasar/Mark Antony
­ Book focuses on the destructive and uncontrollable