Background One: The Argonautica and Vergil

Argonautica
The Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius tells the story of the Thessalian hero Jason and his quest for the Golden Fleece. If you want a comic book version of the story, click here.

The actual text (English translation with facing Greek) of Apollonius, you can find here.

Vergil/Virgil
By now I am sure you recognize that Virgil's name can be spelled either way. I tend to use the Vergil, short for Vergilius, version. But you can find information online using either spelling.


If you want a thorough introduction to the Art of Vergil, check out William Harris' essay of that title with a click here. Harris also offers a long but worthwhile treatment of the life of Vergil, riddled with insight about specific episodes from the Aeneid.


Sometimes it helps to have a set of study questions for each book to better focus your reading. Those given here are very basic and therefore a good place to start. Once you have mastered these, you can move on to more involved questions about each book from Roger Dunkle at Brooklyn College.

The next post will come in about two weeks July 15 or so.

Book One: Meet the Hero

So if you've read Book One, what do you think of the hero of this epic? Can you make any comparisons to the heroes of the Homeric epics, Odysseus (Ulysses) and Achilles?

And what exactly are the themes Vergil intends to examine within this poem?

What is the motivation for Juno's hatred of the Trojans?

Take some time and respond briefly to any or all of these. I understand the word limit is a limit on the scope of your thoughts, so feel free to use e-mail instead.

I plan to make my next post on or about July 15.