ENG 215 & HIS 215: Classical Western Mythology

Finding Italy explores the journey of the Romans' ancestor Aeneas and his fellow Trojans from their old home, Troy, to their new country, Italy, narrated in Vergil's epic poem Aeneid. Fletcher argues that a main narrative theme is patriotism, specifically the problem of how one comes to love one's new country. The various directions Aeneas receives throughout the first half of the poem are meant to create this love. These directions come from the gods and they all serve to instil an emotional connection to the land and ultimately making him fall in love with Italy enough to fight for it soon after his arrival.

One of the masterpieces of Latin and, indeed, world literature, Virgil's Aeneid was written during the Augustan "renaissance" of architecture, art, and literature that redefined the Roman world in the early years of the empire. This period was marked by a transition from the use of rhetoric as a means of public persuasion to the use of images to display imperial power. Smith argues that the Aeneid fundamentally participates in the Augustan shift from rhetoric to imagery because it gives primacy to vision over speech as the principal means of gathering and conveying information as it recounts the heroic adventures of Aeneas.

Written by eminent scholar David O. Ross, this guide helps readers to engage with the poetry, thought, and background of Virgil's great epic, suggesting both the depth and the beauty of Virgil's poetic images and the mental images with which the Romans lived.

This series encourages readers to discover the skills required for martial arts. Each title presents one of the arts, explores how it has been developed and how it works today, including famous fighters and international competition. There are step-by-step instructions for holds, throws and other techniques, and advice on safety and locations to learn about martial arts.

In a discussion in which a comparison of Vergil and Homer becomes the pivot of criticism, the author analyzes basic themes, outlines the Vergilian structure, and indicates the way in which the characters and the events concerning them are related to the whole poem. The author shows how Vergil enlarged upon Homeric similes until they became transparent signs for inner events. He also examines the architecturally structured sequence of mood and argues that, since Vergil, mood has become to poetry what light is to painting.

This extraordinary book provides a new awareness of the marvelous structure of Vergil's poetry. It is an essential text for resolving the disputed passages in Vergil. George Duckworth has pioneered a structural analysis that will not only make obsolete much Vergilian criticism but will, in addition, serve as a basis for future research.