What is the role of Jupiters Prophecy in the Aeneid?

Authors Avatar by aemilianus (student)

What is the role of Jupiter’s Prophecy in the Aeneid?

The Aeneid, while principally a story, is also Virgil’s praise for Augustus, his Emperor and patron. It is not overtly praise, nor is it flattery, but the way it is written allows the reader to come to the conclusion that the legacy of Aeneas is truly great. Jupiter’s prophecy in Book 1 is most likely to be the most overt and important praise of both the Julian dynasty, and the Emperor Augustus.

The Julian family is known to anyone with a modicum of knowledge of the classical world. One of the most widely known individuals in history is Julius Caesar, known as the first link in a long chain of Emperors of what was effectively the known world at the time. In order to look at Jupiter’s prophecy, we must first observe the genealogy of the Julian family.  Aeneas’ son, Ascanius Iulus, is the origin of the Julian name (which in turn he received from the city of Troy, also known as Ilia), and after Aeneas, rules the newly founded Trojan/Italian settlement for 30 years. 300 years after that, the Priestess Ilia (perhaps a link with Augustus – his beloved daughter was named Julia) would give birth to twins, sons of Mars, the Roman god of war. These, of course, were Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome. This does nothing but accentuate the divinity and honour of the Julian name, thus increasing the perceived worth of Augustus’ blood – it does not matter that he was adopted, due to the Roman belief  that upon adoption it was no different than being born again into the family – and so indirectly praises him.

The prophecy goes further, praising Caesar, Augustus’ adoptive father – “....there will be born a Trojan Caesar to bound his empires by Oceanus at the limits of the world, and his fame by the stars. He will be named Julius, a name passed down to him by the great Iulus.” – which serves to praise Julius Caesar for effectively conquering the known world, and so praises his tremendous efforts.

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“In time to come, have no fear, you will receive him in the sky, laden with the spoils of the East. He too will be called upon in prayer.” This prophesises the deification of Julius Caesar – for a mortal to be formally recognised as a god was, understandably, an enormous honour for the Julian family, although it could be argued from the point of view of a Roman that due to the large part that divines play in the Julian family, all Julian’s can be seen to have the potential in them – their lineage was started by Atlas, ...

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