To what extent do you think the gods and goddesses are shown in a caring and
compassionate way in the Aeneid? (30)
Gods and Goddesses play a pivotal role in the Aeneid, both for the development of plot as well as
characters and Roman legend/History, and this reflects the huge part these Gods (and piety) had in
everyday Roman society. To some extent, these deity figures are portrayed as caring and empathetic,
beginning with Venus, the mother of Aeneas. Venus is arguably presented as the most caring deity
fitting with her title as Goddess of Love, possibly due to her matriarchal role of wanting to protect her
son. This motherly instinct may overturn her grander obligations as a Goddess (which I will later
investigate), such as ensuring fate is carried out correctly, which may explain why she is presented this
way. To begin with, she not only begs Jupiter to end the suffering of the Trojans and appears to Aeneas
as a hunter to tell him about Carthage, she also covers him and his men in an invisibility cloud to prevent
them from being seen, displaying her thoughtfulness for those she cares about. As well as this, it could
be argued that Venus sent Cupid to make Dido fall in love with Aeneas out of concern for her son’s
safety as opposed to playing a petty game with Juno, as she only wanted to take the steps that ensured
Aeneas would be safe and able to carry out his destiny, not wanting to let Juno turn the Phoenicians
against him which would put him in danger. These acts clearly show her compassionate and watchful
nature, as she carried them out with her main priority being the wellbeing of her son and his people, the
aforementioned matriarchal instincts being highlighted clear as day. This sets her apart from other
Gods/Goddesses, as it seems her innate responsibilities and tasks she must complete as a Goddess come
second to looking after her family, humanizing her and showing deities can be extremely empathetic.
Moving on to a middle ground, Jupiter seems to be compassionate, yet more primarily driven by his
awesome responsibility as King of the Gods. In Book 1 during the 1 st Major Prophecy, he is seen focusing
on creating the circumstances allowing Fate to prevail correctly- wanting to ensure Aeneas begins his
kingdom and reaching Italy. Despite this focus he still comforts Venus on her worries and concerns,
telling her- ‘Spare yourself these fears, my lady from Cythera’. As the King of all Gods, it would be
expected that your primary focus would be on ensuring fate is properly carried out, and so for Jupiter to
also show compassion and empathy to Venus, who is currently very concerned about events yet to be
transpired, shows that he has a compassionate side to him, therefore if the very ruler of all deities
harbours these caring traits it surely stands to reason that the Gods and Goddesses must all follow suit
and act in this way. However, this is unfortunately not the case…
It is indisputable that out of all the Deities in the Aeneid, Juno is presented as almost a kind of
antagonist, with any examples of previously mentioned empathetic traits being very few and far
between, whereas opposite examples of actions displaying a self-serving, emotional, petty nature are
common throughout most all books in the Aeneid. To begin with, Juno calls upon a storm which
shipwrecks the war-weary Aeneas and the surviving Trojans, nearly killing them and leaving them ashore
on Carthage. Her reasoning for this was twofold- one because Carthage is her favourite city and it is
fated the Trojan bloodline will destroy it, and two because the Trojan Paris judged her rival, Venus, as
having more beauty than her. This really displays the vindictive, cruel nature of Juno, and shows her
holding grudges to an extreme degree even when the perceived “insults” against her are minor. She is
spurred on to actions because of her intense negative emotions, such as hatred for the Trojans and an
unrelenting desire for revenge/getting her own back on the Trojans. It could be argued she is acting this
way out of love for Carthage and its people and wanting to preserve these things, but Venus loved the
