Book Six: The Underworld

In the "wake" of Book V, Aeneas makes his way to the underworld in Book Six. This book is probably the greatest singular achievement of the poem, though I and IV might have something to say about that.

You may want to draw yourself a map of the Underworld as you read Vergil's description of the place, and then to compare yours to this one.

At left, you'll find a picture of the entrance to the cave of the Sibyl. Here are some other views of the temple to Apollo at Cumae, the interior hallway (looking back to entrance), the area between the crypt and the cave, and the acropolis and the cave, posted by Leo Curran.

I recommend keeping track of Aeneas movements and actions in Book Six as precisely as possible. What he does, when he does it, what he sees and when he sees it, etc. As a further aid to understanding Book Six, you may want to check out these anecdotes about the Sibyl, the Crater at Cumae, the miraculous birth of Vergil, the Legend of the Enchanted Egg, and the Legend of Vergil's Bones (all presented by John Opsopaus).

Comparison to the Homeric description of the Underworld (esp. the Odysseus voyage thereto) is vital to understanding the importance of the Vergilian. A further comparison should be made to the elaboration on the afterlife made by Dante in his Divine Comedy. In that poem, Vergil leads the poet Dante through the Inferno (Hell) and Purgatorio (Purgatory), so its comparisons to the Aeneid are vast and profound.

I hope these are useful in your readings. In just two short weeks, we'll be back in the classroom. You should by then have completed your reading of the English translation of the Aeneid. I intend to post just twice more before school begins, covering the final six books of the Aeneid in two even posts.