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Aeneas' Landfalls in Hesperia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

Alexander G. Mckay
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Extract

Gaudet cognomine terra. Virgil's stories of Palinurus, Misenus, and Caieta, the helmsman, the trumpeter, and the nurse of Aeneas, are aetiological: they are poetic fictions designed to account for the names of the promontories and towns which are landmarks on the periplus or navigation route along the west coast of Italy, between Lucania and Latium, or, more specifically, between Velia and Ostia. The object here is to examine the topography and archaeology of the three sites to determine whether any features of the terrain assisted Virgil to his three aetiological fictions, and to see whether recent archaeological finds may offer any additional insight into the three episodes.

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Type
Research Article
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Greece & Rome , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , April 1967, pp. 3 - 11
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1967

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References

page 3 note 1 Aen. v. 827–71; vi. 337–83.

page 3 note 2 For discussion of the implications of the Palinurus episode, see Putnam, Michael C. J., The Poetry of the Aeneid (Harvard, 1957), 92–104Google Scholar; Knight, W. F. Jackson, Roman Vergil (London, 1944), 291–2Google Scholar; Jacob, P., ‘L'episode de Palinure’, EtCl 20 (1952), 163–7Google Scholar; and Connolly, Cyril, The Unquiet Grave (New York, 1957), 134–47.Google Scholar

page 4 note 1 Servius, on Aen. vi. 378: ‘Lucanis enim pestilentia laborantibus respondit oraculum manes Palinuri esse placandos; ob quam rem non longe a Velia ei et lucum et cenotaphium dederunt.’

page 4 note 2 On the legend and its origins see Williams, R. D., Virgil, Aeneid V (Oxford, 1960), 197 ff.Google Scholar

page 4 note 3 Homer, , Od. xi. 51–80.Google Scholar The Virgilian story also recalls Odysseus' marathon swim before he reached Calypso's island (Od. xii. 442–50).

page 4 note 4 Od. iii. 278–83.

page 4 note 5 On the excavations see Sestieri, P. C., Boll. d'Arte 33 (1948), 339–45Google Scholar; and Naumann, R., Palinuro. Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen, I: Topographie und Architektur, MDAI (R) Erg.-Heft III (Heidelberg, 1958)Google Scholar; Naumann, R. and Neutsch, B.. Palinuro, Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen, IIGoogle Scholar: Nekropole, Terrassenzone und Einzelfunde, MDAI (R) Erg.-Heft IV (Heidelberg, 1960).

page 5 note 1 For the prodigies, see Aen. vi. 379–80.

page 5 note 2 Cf. Head, Hist. Num. 2 p. 83; Babelon, E., Traité, ii, i, p. 1419Google Scholar, pl. lxvii; Babelon, J., Coll. de Luynes, Monn. Gr. i, no. 523.Google Scholar

page 5 note 3 Polybius i. 39, 1–6; Diod. xxiii. 19.

page 5 note 4 Horace, Odes iii. 4. 28.

page 5 note 5 Vell. Pat. ii. 79. 3; Dio Cass. xlix. 1; Appian, BC v. 98.

page 5 note 6 Cf. Aen. v. 864–8. Aeneas miraculously brings his rudderless ship past the Sirens' rocks, the modern Sirenusae Islands off Positano.

page 6 note 1 Aen. vi. 162–74; 212–35. For comment see SirFletcher, Frank, Virgil, Aeneid VI, (Oxford, 1941), 43 ff.Google Scholar

page 6 note 2 Aen. vi. 149–55. Misenus' sudden and mysterious death laid pollution on the Trojan fleet.

page 7 note 1 Aen. v. 843: Iaside Palinure. For the Italian origins, see Aen. iii. 163–71.

page 7 note 2 Aen. v. 815. Palinurus' divinely contrived death ensures the success of the whole enterprise. Henry, J., Aeneidea (Dublin, 1881), iii. 199Google Scholar, interprets the incident as ‘the superstition of the scapegoat, or expiation by transference’.

page 7 note 3 Aen. i. 50–156.

page 8 note 1 Tac. Ann. xiv. 10. 4–5.

page 8 note 2 For the Portus Julius see Strabo v. 4. 5; Virgil, Georg. ii. 161–4; Vell. Pat. ii. 79. For the naval base at Misenum see Suet. Aug. 49.

page 8 note 3 Georg. ii. 161–4.

page 8 note 4 On the death of Marcellus in 23 b.c., cf. Virgil, Aen. vi. 860–86, and Propertius iii. 18. 1–16. Bailey, C., Religion in Virgil (Oxford, 1935), 287–91Google Scholar, examines Roman features in the burial rites of Misenus.

page 9 note 1 Aen. vi. 900–1; vii. 1–6. Cf. Livy xl. 2 (a temple of Apollo and Caieta at Formiae).

page 9 note 2 Strabo v. 233.

page 9 note 3 Servius, on Aen. vii. 1. See Williams, R. D., Virgil, Aeneid V (Oxford, 1960), 158Google Scholar, for discussion and bibliography.

page 9 note 4 Aen. v. 654–699.

page 9 note 5 Fellmann, Consult R., Das Grab des Lucius Munatius Plancus bei Gaeta (Basel, 1957).Google Scholar

page 9 note 6 See Aurigemma, S. and De Santis, A., Gaeta-Formia-Minturno (Rome, 1955), 7–9Google Scholar, for discussion and plans of both mausolea.

page 9 note 7 Aen. vii. 4.

page 10 note 1 For details consult Ernest Nash, Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Rome, ii (London, 1962), 38–43

page 10 note 2 Holloway, R. Ross, ‘The Tomb of Augustus and the Princes of Troy’, AJA 70 (1966), 171–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 10 note 3 Homer, Iliad, ii. 792–4 (tomb of Aisyetes); ii. 811–15 (tomb of the Amazon Myrina); vii. 86–91 (tomb of Hector). Cf. Strabo xiii., 1, 34. For the cenotaph of Hector cf. Aen. iii. 304.