AP Latin Unit 4 Cheatsheet: Required - Vergil's Aeneid: Excerpts From Books 1 and 2

Greek and Roman epic poetry, including the Aeneid, is typically composed in dactylic hexameter, with six metrical feet per line.

• Dactyl: — ∪ ∪ (long + 2 short)
• Spondee: — — (2 long)
• Trochee: — ∪ (long + short)

Vergilian pattern:

• Feet 1–4: dactyl OR spondee
• Foot 5: usually dactyl
• Foot 6: spondee OR trochee

Elision: Partial suppression of a word's end when it ends in a vowel, vowel + m, or diphthong AND the next word begins with a vowel, diphthong, or h. Read through the elided syllable without pause.

Epic poetry is a highly stylized, long-established genre. Poets claimed their place in tradition by using established elements while adding personal contribution.

Key structural elements:

• Proem: preface or prologue
• Invocation to the Muses: request for divine inspiration
• In medias res: narrative begins in the middle of action, not at the start

Vergil's sources: Drew inspiration from Homer's Odyssey and Iliad.

Purpose of the Aeneid: Created a foundation legend establishing Augustus's divine ancestry (descendant of Aeneas, son of Venus) and preordained status as ruler; presented Romans as fated to rule the world.

Gods & Goddesses:

• Jupiter: King of gods; married to Juno
• Juno: Queen of gods; goddess of marriage
• Venus: Goddess of love, beauty, desire, victory; Aeneas's mother; married to Vulcan
• Minerva, Mars, Apollo, Mercury: Jupiter's children; respectively gods of crafts, war, music/prophecy, and commerce
• Neptune, Pluto (Dis): Saturn's sons; gods of seas and underworld
• The Fates: Three goddesses controlling human destiny, lifespan, accomplishment, suffering

Legendary Figures:

• Dido (Elissa): Legendary founder of Carthage; fled Tyre after brother Pygmalion murdered her husband Sychaeus; rejected Iarbas's marriage proposal
• Paris: Trojan prince; judged the beauty contest between Hera, Athena, Aphrodite; chose Aphrodite, causing Helen to fall in love with him