Odysseus visits the underworld for more selfish reasons than Aeneas. He desperately wants to go back to Ithaca, and he needs to talk to the prophet Teiresias to find out how. Odysseus’ adventure in the underworld is told in the first person while he is entertaining a host and hostess. He is trying to get sympathy and help from them. Aeneas is a loftier hero who is going for the sake of his people. Aeneas visits the underworld because Jupiter has commanded him to find a new home for the Trojan refugees. This seems to be a nobler quest and Aeneas even wonders if it is proper to describe the visit, “May it be right, and fitting, by your will, that I describe the deep world sunk in darkness Under the Earth (p.169).” Aeneas’ visit to the underworld is told in third person, with no hint of entertainment for a host or hostess in order to wheedle favors from them.
Virgil’s description of the underworld is written brilliantly, being much more moving and scarier than Homer’s. During Aeneas’s visit to the underworld, he encounters many of his comrades who tell him heart-wrenching stories about how they came to their unfortunate ends. Aeneas hears pleas from ghosts with unfinished business, (the unburied and falsely accused). In the Fields of Mourning, Aeneas encounters Dido, wandering around with “her fatal wounds still fresh (p.175).” Aeneas is brought to tears by Dido, whom he scorned while she was alive. Virgil’s writing is poignant in this section of the Aeneid because he pays minute attention to even the most miniscule details, for instance a tree is described, “In the courtyard a shadowy giant elm spreads ancient boughs, her ancient arms where dreams, false dreams, the old tale goes, beneath each leaf cling and are numberless.” The description of the infants conveys the intense sorrow of their deaths: “torn from the breast, a black day took them off and drowned them all in bitter death.” Although the description of the underworld in the Odyssey is frightening, its words do not linger in the mind as do Virgil’s poetry.
Homer’s Odyssey did not show any difference between how good and bad people in the underworld were treated. Virgil, on the other hand shows part of underworld as a paradise, similar to the Christian concept of Heaven. However, Homer did graphically illustrate the punishments that were handed down to the people who had offended Gods, such Tityos’s sufferings. Homer’s descriptions elicit pity and horror from the reader or listener.
Virgil’s version of the underworld was an innovation, and perhaps a reflection of how people’s beliefs had evolved. The Aeneid reflects the social thought of that time, that souls are born again after 1,000 years. Like Homer, Virgil holds the belief that life, no matter how hard, is better than death and those who have committed suicide regret their acts. The language in the Aeneid is more poetic, but Homer’s achievement as a wordsmith should not be slighted. In the Odyssey, life, no matter how hard, is better than death. The shades are described as “after images of used-up men” and “dimwitted.” One compelling section of Homer’s says the very hard life of a poor peasant is preferable to the nothingness of death.
The Aeneid’s action is less dramatic than that of Homer’s Odyssey, which contains a very dramatic story of ghosts craving blood. I can imagine people thousands of years ago sitting around, riveted, listening to the story and shivering with fright and revulsion. Blood is the symbol of the life that ghosts crave and have lost. Odysseus even had to watch his own mother drink blood before she was able to recognize him. Virgil’s account of Aeneas’ visit to the underworld contained animal sacrifice but had no ghosts drinking blood. Virgil may have been too squeamish, or out of respect, may have wanted to make ghosts seem nobler. As a result of this, Virgil’s account of the ghosts was markedly less dramatic than Homer’s version.
In terms of guides to the underworld, Odysseus had none, while Aeneas had Sibyl. Sibyl was a highly respected oracle of the Romans (emperors went to visit the Sibyl to hear prophecies and the Sibyl’s pronouncements were diligently recorded). This addition makes Aeneas’ visit more sanctioned by Gods and respected by people. However, it could also be argued that Odysseus was more capable than Aeneas, and therefore he had no need for a guide.
Both stories include moving reunions with parents in the underworld: Odysseus with his mother, and Aeneas with his father. Odysseus’ mother relates to him the pitiful story of her death, along with the sad story of his father Laertes’ condition, as well as Penelope’s plight. These descriptions sadden Odysseus and he attempts to embrace his mother, “I bit my lip, rising perplexed, with longing to embrace her, and tried three times, putting my arms around her, but she went sifting through my hands,” but is unable to do so. Aeneas reunites with his father, Anchises, in the underworld, who, instead of drinking blood like Odysseus’ mother, is residing with the happy souls. Anchises takes Aeneas on a tour through all the regions of the underworld, pointing out various comrades and famous war heroes, and informing Aeneas of how he might “avoid or bear each toil to come (p.191)” in the wars he has yet to fight. Aeneas also is unsuccessful at embracing his dead father, “Three times the shade untouched slipped through his hands, weightless as wind and fugitive as dream (p.184).” Expressive language is paramount in the Aeneid, and these words doubtless were often repeated by Romans.
The Aeneid give you an idea about the importance of burial to the Roman people, echoing a theme also present in the Odyssey. Sibyl has Aeneas bury his comrade before setting out for Underworld because the unburied cannot enter the underworld. Noble Aeneas does his duty before he visits the underworld, while Odysseus buries Elpenor as a favor after his trip to the underworld.
Both heroes encounter angry ghosts. Odysseus comes across bitter Trojans whom he outmaneuvered in the battle, while Aeneas meets Dido. He tries to make excuses for his abrupt behavior, but the ghost of Dido simply glares at him and flees.
In both sagas, there is a section that I cannot help but think of as a laundry list. In the Odyssey, Odysseus describes a series of famous beautiful women from history and myth and, following some prodding from his host, describes heroic men. In the Aeneid, there is a similar laundry list except the heroes were Romans. Although Homer’s and Virgil’s contemporaries may have been riveted by these descriptions, they held much less interest for me, possibly because I am less familiar with the stories. With Odysseus’s account, I at least derived some amusement from the thought of Odysseus inventing the account of heroic men to please his host (perhaps he had thought that tales of beautiful women would suffice).
After reading these two versions of visits to the underworld, written 750 years apart, with the second one undoubtedly influenced by the first, I feel I have a greater understanding of how people’s imagination regarding the afterlife evolved over time. Dante and the Christian writers of the New Testament must have learned from these two works. I also can see the development of literature, with actual words assuming a greater importance than had previously been the case. The drama and storytelling of Homer was and continues to be something that will move us for thousands of years. The poetry of Virgil is more expressive than that of Homer and also will live on, although it may appeal more to intellectuals.