In the Aeneid, how would you describe Aeneas as a hero and his motivations?

Aeneas is an epic hero in this text in the way that it is he who is chosen to found the empire of Rome and to lead the remnants of a once-great civilisation towards a new birth, from Troy to Rome. It is he who is chosen by the gods to perform this role and his prime motivation is to be pious and to obey the will of the gods. This is something that is shown again and again throughout this epic text, but one of the best examples comes when he is in Carthage with Dido, and living a happy life with her, but recognises that he has to leave her and to carry on in his quest towards Rome. Aeneas is a character whose heroism is defined by his piety and his respect towards the gods, and indeed, at many points in the text he is referred to as "pious Aeneas." Note how he presents himself to the huntress he meets in Libya, who is actually his mother, Venus, in disguise:

I am Aeneas, duty-bound, and known
Above high air of heaven by my fame,
Carrying with me in my ships our gods
Of hearth and home, saved from the enemy.
I look for Italy to be my fatherland,
And my descent is from all-highest Jove.

As this quote suggests, his mission and his sense of duty are key components of the identity of Aeneas, and his description of himself as "duty-bound" captures his motivation to fulfil that duty and responsibility. His motivation is therefore expressed in his duty to create a new civilisation in Italy, and his heroism is depicted in his single-minded focus on this goal to the exclusion of all else. Aeneas is a "man with a mission," and he will not let anything stand in his way.

What heroic and unheroic actions does Aeneas exhibit in the Aeneid?

In books 2 and 3 of the Aeneid, Aeneas is recounting his own exploits to Dido, so it is perhaps not surprising that he depicts himself in a favorable light. He is heroic in saving his family from Troy and in going back into the burning city to look for his wife, Creusa, whom he has unaccountably lost. Only an encounter with her ghost can prevent him from continuing to risk his life to save her.

Aeneas's conduct in book 4 is perhaps the poem's most controversial episode. The Romans famously tended to regard patriotism and civic virtue as more important than personal relationships. Therefore, Aeneas's desertion of Dido (albeit for a city and a country that do not even exist yet) would have seemed heroic by the standards of Virgil's time. Many modern readers, however, feel that it is cowardly of Aeneas to slink away as he does. This episode was the traditional explanation for the animosity between Rome and Carthage, so it was not without political repercussions, quite apart from the personal tragedy of Dido.

In the final battle and his duel with Turnus, Aeneas fights bravely, as a hero must. He is motivated to kill Turnus by a rather unheroic anger (though it would probably have been very foolish to let his rival live), but the anger is caused by his memory of Pallas. This directly connects Aeneas to the greatest of all epic heroes, Achilles, who kills Hector to avenge his friend Patroclus in Homer's Iliad.

Discuss Aeneas as a man with a mission in Vergil's Aeneid.

In contrast to epic heroes like Achilles and Odysseus, Aeneas' journey has a different sort of aim. In Homer's Iliad, Achilles' aim was to achieve immortal glory for himself by killing lots of noteworthy Trojans. In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus' aim was to return to an already-established home on Ithaca and restore order.

Aeneas, like Achilles, is a hero who exhibits might in battle, but his glory does not have the personal aim that Achilles' does. Aeneas fights for something larger than personal glory, he fights so that he can fulfill the destiny that has been established for him by the gods, namely of founding an "empire without end."

Sometimes, Aeneas gets sidetracked as he attempts to fulfill this mission, as he does in his relationship with Dido (see Aeneid 4). Eventually, though, the gods bring Aeneas back into line and Aeneas travels to the underworld and back to discover what he needs to do to establish a new home for himself and his companions in Italy. Thus, in the underworld (see Aeneid 6), Aeneas learns from his father Anchises what the mission of the Romans will be:

remember, Roman, it is for you to rule the nations with your power,
(that will be your skill) to crown peace with law,
to spare the conquered, and subdue the proud.
(A.S. Kline translation)

Is Aeneas in The Aeneid the prototype of the ideal Roman ruler?

There are of course two responses to this question. Firstly, it is perfectly possible to argue that Aeneas is presented as the prototype of the ideal Roman ruler, because of the epic nature of this text and the way Virgil is celebrating all that is good and powerful about Rome as a city and Romans as a people. Therefore, as the epic hero of the text, Aeneas is going to possess all that is strong and desirable about Rome himself. This can be seen in the text, particularly with repeated reference to "the pious Aeneas" and frequent reference to Aeneas being a character who respects both the gods and those around him. Note for example what he says to his father as they are fleeing Troy in Book II, when Anchises says he wants to be left to die:

Did you suppose, my father,
That I could tear myself away and leave you?
Unthinkable; how could a father say it?
Now if it pleases the powers about that nothing
Stand of this great city; if your heart
Is set on adding your own death and ours
To that of Troy, the door’s wide open for it.

This quote stresses the piety of Aeneas in a number of different ways. Firstly, it shows him to be somebody who has massive respect for his father because of both his status as a patriarch, but also the bond that unites them. Aeneas refuses to leave his father behind, even though this endangers his own safety, because he loves and respects his father. Secondly it shows Aneas to be pious through the way that he is presented as a man who accepts the will of the gods. This is the defining characteristic of Aeneas throughout the text, as he allows himself to be led by the gods and is responsive to their every command on his life. These are qualities that were prized in Roman times, and so Aeneas can be seen as the prototype Roman ruler.

However, at the same time, it is clear that Aeneas could be viewed as not being the perfect Roman ruler. The way in which he meekly submits to the gods and their plans for him, for example, suggests a certain amount of weakness. His role in his relationship with Dido as well, in one sense, is reprehensible, as he continues that relationship even though he knows that ultimately he will have to leave. It is difficult however to separate our own 21st century perspective of Aeneas from how the original audience of this text would have viewed him.

How is Aeneas portrayed as a hero in the Aeneid?

Aeneas is the archetype of the Roman epic hero. Whereas Achilles and Odysseus were concerned primarily with personal glory, Aeneas is pious, meaning that his primary loyalty is to the gods and the mission they have for him. For this purpose, he is prepared to brave any danger and make any sacrifice.

Virgil takes pains to ensure that Aeneas consistently appears in a heroic light. When he flees from the burning city of Troy, he loses his wife, Creusa. The great hero cannot simply abandon her, so the poet creates a vision for Aeneas, in which Creusa tells him that he will find a new wife in a new land.

This wife is Lavinia in Italy, not Dido in Carthage. Many modern readers find Aeneas's behavior to Dido cruel and unheroic. However, the Romans considered it a great virtue to put public duty before love or friendship. A Roman reader or listener would also have had a negative perception of Dido as a Carthaginian, viewing her as both a scheming woman and enemy of Rome, despite the fact that Rome does not yet exist as she dies.

How does Aeneas in Virgil's Aeneid exemplify an ideal Roman hero and relate to the Iliad?

The chief characteristics of Aeneas are his renowned piety ("pious" is Virgil's favorite epithet for him) and his sense of public duty, which actuates him to obey the gods and found a new Troy in Italy (which was, over successive generations and after sojourns in Latium and Alba Longa, to become Rome).

When, for instance, Dido reproaches Aeneas for leaving her in Book IV, he cites his duty to the gods, to his family (Anchises and Ascanius), and to the men he leads. As a Roman patrician, as well as a Trojan prince, these matter more to him than merely personal relationships and he represses his own feelings:

But good Aeneas, tho' he much desir'd
To give that pity which her grief requir'd;
Tho' much he mourn'd, and labor'd with his love,
Resolv'd at length, obeys the will of Jove; (Dryden translation)

The character in the Iliad who most obviously resembles Aeneas is his fellow prince of Troy, Hector. Hector is the most responsible and public-spirited person in the Iliad, the one who has to bear the weight of leadership and put the common good above his own desires.