How Important to the Aeneid Are the Relationships Between Parents and Children and What Was the Significance of These Relationships to the Readers of the Reign of Augustus

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How important to the Aeneid are the relationships between parents and children and what was the significance of these relationships to the readers of the reign of Augustus:- The relationships between parents and children in the Aeneid are very important; they help give us a deeper insight in to their characters. The relationship between Aeneas and his Parents is echoed throughout the epic. Aeneas is the son of the Goddess Venus and his father was Anchises. Both Anchises and Venus help Aeneas on his journey to Italy and try to keep him safe. We are told about the love Aeneas harbours for his parents but also his parents for him. in troy Aeneas goes to save his father and leave the city as instructed to do so by his mother. He did not have to listen to his mother and could have left his father in troy but Aeneas went back to collect his father, son and wife and wanted to get them to safety. Aeneas shows Piats here and does so throughout the book. While on their journey to find Italy Anchises passes away, Aeneas is heartbroken and once again had to endure another death. However Virgil’s keeps reminding us of Anchises, as he refers to Aeneas as “son of Anchises.” Even though Anchises dies and we are told about this in book 3, in book 5 he returns to Aeneas and tells him to visit the underworld. Even though he is dead he still worries about his son and asks him to come see him. This shows us the importance of their relationship because Aeneas risks his life to go visit his father in hades and his father still wants to help Aeneas reach Italy. Aeneas has a very close bond with his father; it could be argued if we could say the same about him and his mother Venus. It is very clear that she loves her son incredibly and is very protective of him, she does all she can to make sure he reaches Italy safely even if that means hurting people on the way e.g. Dido. However

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