A major value of the Greeks, as seen in The Odyssey, is hospitality. In Greek culture, you are to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In the Odyssey, this idea is presented throughout the entire story, from Odysseus’s encounter with the Cyclops to his final defeat of the insolent suitors. Hospitality was valued so highly among the Greeks that it was used as a forefront to many of the ideas and challenges that Odysseus faced throughout his journey.
Similarly, a major value of the Romans, as seen in The Aeneid, is the importance of family ties. We can see this from the beginning of the story when Venus, Aeneas’ mother, advises him to flee Troy at once in hopes of keeping her son safe. The father-son relationship is also paramount in Roman culture. Aeneas was a model parent to his son, Ascanius, and strived to keep him safe. Just as his son looked up to him, he also looked up to his father, Anchises. The combination of father-son relationships is prevalent not only throughout The Odyssey and The Aeneid, but many other works as well. Recognizing the importance of family is necessary to really understand many of the stories presented throughout western culture.
Lastly, a major cultural theme, as seen in Dante’s Inferno, is how the Medieval Christian Church viewed God and sin. God was characterized as being providential, in which He is not only all powerful and all knowing, He is also all loving and all forgiving and all merciful. Simply put, you do not want to have distance between yourself and Him. Dante’s Inferno explores those that have committed a sin, or offense against God, which created that distance and consequently landed them in Hell. Rather than focusing on the gruesome details of each punishment, the more important message being portrayed is how perfect God is and His divine justice. During this period of time Christian doctrine was supreme and this story reinforces that principle.
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While each story has its own unique value that it portrays, there are concepts that can be connected throughout each story, which too shed light on commonplace beliefs during this time. One concept is that of fate and destiny. The role of fate and destiny have different implications in each of the aforementioned epic poems. In the Odyssey, Odysseus is repeatedly challenged by interventions from gods and goddesses. However, what could not be challenged was his eventual fate. Not even the father of the Gods, Zeus, could overtake the fate and destiny of Odysseus, which goes to show that the gods were not completely in power.
We see a similar trail of events in The Aeneid, in which it is repetitively hinted at that a new city is to be successfully found in Italy. Fate was so much of a factor that Aeneas chose pursuing this greater power over being with his love, Dido. It was as if Aeneas felt a calling to fulfill his destiny and pursue what he was fated to accomplish. Fate and destiny in both The Odyssey and The Aeneid is portrayed as reigning supreme, even over the interventions and manipulations of the gods and goddesses. Dante’s Inferno has a different take on fate and destiny.
Rather than focusing on this idea of what one is meant to accomplish, it focuses on the consequences of actions and what eventual fate entails as a result. As Dante travels through the different circles of Hell, he sees the different fates of people panned out as a direct result of the sin they committed. This work says less about the idea of destiny; rather, the fate of what is to come if you offend God.
Lastly, another interesting idea to consider between The Odyssey and The Aeneid is the idea of vengeance. We have discussed in class how gods and goddesses are anthropomorphic, or have the characteristics of humans. A trait that many humans have is that of spite and vengefulness. When something or someone does something bad to us, we often times want to seek revenge on that person. We can see that same quality portrayed by Odysseus and Aeneas towards the end of their works. When Odysseus returns home from his journey he kills all of the suitors who overtook his home.
Similarly, when Aeneas returns home he is enraged with emotion and kills Turnus in battle. Both characters were given the opportunity to resolve the situation without bloodshed, however, they both chose otherwise out of spite. Of a multitude of other characteristics that share a likeness, this is just one example of the human-like qualities that gods and goddesses are depicted having in their stories.
