HUM / REL 493 - Continuation of Intermediate Latin
Course Notes - Week 13
The photo on page 253 shows part of the carvings on a marble sarcophagus, showing Dido and Aeneas preparing to go on a hunt together. A cupid stands between them.
The photo on page 255 shows a 5th-century illustration of Dido and Aeneas. The color of their robes was originally purple. The men are wearing Phrygian caps, denoting their origin. The central figure is Dido. Aeneas is on the left and Achates on the right.
The photo on page 160 is of a 4th-century mosaic from Low Ham, Sussex. On the right, Aeneas and the Trojan survivors in ships approach Carthage. Achates is holding out a diadem as a gift to Dido. The top panel shows Venus and Cup, disguised as Aeneas' son, Ascanius, directing the meeting of Dido and Aeneas. The left panel shows Dido, Aeneas and Ascanius hunting. (Note - stirrups had not yet been invented). The bottom panel shows Dido and Aeneas in an embrace as they take shelter from a storm which Juno had caused. The central panel shows Venus and two cupids.
The mosaic is now in the Taunton Castle Museum.
The photo on page 263 is of a shop sign from Pompeii, showing the god Mercury, with winged hat and caduceus.
The photo on page 265 shows a figure of a Maenad, from the Great Dish of the Mildenhall Treasure (4th century) now in the British Museum. Vergil compared Dido to one of the maenads when she was out of her mind at Aeneas leaving her.
the photo on page 266 shows an illustration from a medieval manuscript. At bottom center Dido stands on her funeral pyre. Behind her, to the left, Aeneas and Dido are entering the cave. The hunt scene goes across the center of the scene, with Ascanius in a blue tunic and red cloak. The walls of Carthage are shown at the top right, and Aeneas and the boats arrive at the top of the picture.
The photo on page 270 shows an illustration from a 5th-century manuscript, now in the Vatican Library. Dido and Aeneas take shelter in the cave. Other members of the hunting party take shelter under a shield and under a tree.
The photo on page 272 shows the hunt scene from the Taunton Mosaic.
NOTE - Vergil was not consistent in his use of verb tenses. So, in translating the Aeneid, one may choose to treat all present tense verbs as historical, and put everything in the past tense; or one may put everything in the present tense; or one may mix the tenses to give whatever "feels right".
Main Source : Cambridge Course Teachers' Materials
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