Books
Cotterell, Arthur. Ancient China. Photographed by Alan Hills and Geoff Brightling. New York: Knopf, 1994.
Guisso, R. W. L., et al. The First Emperor of China. New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1989.
Mann, Elizabeth. The Great Wall. New York: Mikaya Press, 1997.
McNeese, Tim. The Great Wall of China. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, 1997.
Sabin, Louis. Ancient China. Mahwah, NJ: Troll Associates, 1985.
Web Sites
"Construction of the Great Wall Begins." Http://www. northpark. edu/acad/ history/WebChron/China/GreatWall. html (accessed on July 9, 1999).
"Discovering the Great Wall and Ming Tombs." Http://zinnia. umfacad. maine. edu/~mshea/China/great. hmtl (accessed on July 9, 1999).
"EAWC: Ancient China." Exploring Ancient World Cultures. Http://www. eawc. evansville. edu/chpage. htm (accessed on July 9, 1999).
"Shih Huang Ti." Http://www. taisei. co. jp/cg_e/ancient_world/xian/ axian. html (accessed on July 9, 1999).
Among the poets of Rome, Vergil is usually considered the greatest: Rome's answer to Homer [see sidebar]. Indeed, Vergil's most famous work, the Aeneid, combines elements of Homer's two epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. But it is much more than an imitation.
Just as the Romans thrived by borrowing from other cultures, so Vergil's work is almost an encyclopedia of all that went before it. His Georgies sums up the spirit of Rome, both its dark and bright sides. Together with the Eelogues the work paved the way for the literature of medieval times and the Renaissance. A host of everyday expressions have their origins in Vergil's writing, including “Mind over matter” and “Love conquers all.”
Romans are usually known by short versions of their names: thus the full name of Vergil—sometimes rendered as “Virgil”—was Publius Vergilius Maro (POOB-lee-us vur-JIL-yuhs MAHR-oh). He was born on October 15, 70 b. c., near the ancient Etruscan town of Mantua (MAHN-tyu-ah), which is now part of Italy. At that time Mantua belonged to the Roman province of Cisalpine (siz-AL-pine) Gaul. It was a rural area,
Happy the man who has learned the causes of things, and has put under his feet all fears.
Georgics
Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.
Vergil
Born 70 b. c. Died 19 b. c.
Roman poet
Homer and Odysseus
Only a few writers in the history of Western literature enjoy a stature comparable with Homer's, yet people know almost nothing about the composer of the Iliad and the Odyssey. For centuries, many believed that he was not really one man but several. Later scholarship, however, suggests that there really was a man named Homer, who probably lived some time between 900 and 700 b. c. in the Ionian (ie-OHN-ee-un) colonies of Asia Minor.
Much more is known about the greatest of Homer's characters, Odysseus (oh-DIS-ee-us), hero of the Odyssey, sometimes known by his Latin name, Ulysses (yoo-LIS-eez). Odysseus was reluctant to join Agamemnon (ag-uh-MIM-nahn) and the others going away to the Trojan War. His wife, Penelope (pehn-EL-uh-pee), had just given birth to a son,
Telemachus (tel-IM-uh-kuhs). Odysseus wanted to stay and raise the boy. He tried to pretend he was crazy, but Agamemnon's messenger called his bluff, and he had to join the Greek forces.
Ten years later, with the war over, all the survivors went home, though not all lived happily ever after. Agamemnon, for one, was murdered by his wife's lover, and his son had to take revenge on the killer. A similar fate seemed to await Odysseus. Back at his palace, a number of young men, thinking Odysseus was dead, had gathered around Penelope. Telemachus, by then a young man, watched helplessly as they made advances toward his mother. Meanwhile, his father was lost at sea.
Homer writes that it took Odysseus a full ten years to return from Troy. It all
And despite his many visits to Rome, Vergil would be a country boy to the end of his days.
His father was a laborer, but his mother the daughter of his father's boss, a landlord. Thus Vergil's mother ensured the boy a better future than if he had merely been the son of peasants. He studied in Mantua and then attended the equivalent of high school in Rome, where he learned rhetoric (RET-uh-rik), or the art of speaking and writing. Later he went to Naples (NAY-pulz) in southern Italy, where he studied under the philosopher Siro.
Siro belonged to the Epicurean (ep-i-KYOOR-ee-un) school of philosophy, which had started in Greece. The Epicureans originally taught enjoyment of life's simple joys. Even-
Started because he had killed the one-eyed giant called Cyclops (SIE-klahps), who turned out to be the son of Poseidon, god of the seas. Poseidon cursed Odysseus, forcing him to wander throughout the Mediterranean.
Odysseus had all manner of misadventures at the hands of the witch Circe (SUR-say); the Sirens, with their deadly song; the cannibalistic Lestrygonians (les-tri-GOHN-ee-uns); and the beautiful Calypso (ku-LIP-soh), who held him prisoner. Eventually, however, he managed to return home, where he joined forces with Telemachus, killed the suitors, and was reunited with Penelope.
Many consider the Odyssey an even greater work than the Iliad; certainly it is a more mature one. The brave Achilles, hero of the Iliad, seems downright childish
Compared with Odysseus, whose hardships are those of an older and wiser man. Ultimately the theme of the Odyssey is one of wisdom and self-control, of learning how to get through life and to choose one's battles carefully.
The Odyssey has served as the model for a whole range of works dealing with long and perilous journeys, from Vergil's Aeneid to Dante's Divine Comedy, from Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) to the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. James Joyce (1882-1941), one of the greatest writers of modern times, based his 1922 novel Ulysses on Homer's classic. Joyce described Odysseus as the only "complete" character—that is, one with a full set of flaws to balance his strengths—in all of literature.
Tually this philosophy became corrupted to a pursuit of pure physical pleasure. To judge from Vergil's life, he embraced the “simple joys" part but never became an "epicurean" in the negative sense of the word.
The Eclogues
His family had originally planned for Vergil to pursue a career in law, but he was too shy for public speaking; therefore he returned to the family farm, where he began to write and study poetry. In 42 b. c., he started work on a set of poems called the Eclogues (EK-lawgz), or "Selections." His work was interrupted during the following year, when the Roman authorities seized his family's land to give it to war veterans.
It was a troubled time for Rome, two years after the murder of Julius Caesar. Caesar's nephew Octa-vian (ahk-TAY-vee-un) had taken control, along with two other members of the Second Triumvirate. Vergil's friends suggested he go to Rome and ask Octa-vian to restore the farm. Apparently Vergil impressed Octavian, who would be known to history by his later title of Augustus Caesar. Augustus was a ruthless political leader, but he was also an admirer of the arts.
Vergil leading Dante through Hell and Purgatory in the story of the Divina Commedia. Painting by Delacroix. Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.
Although he had managed to rescue the family lands, Vergil moved to Naples, where he resumed work on the Eclogues. These consisted of ten poems of a style called pastoral (PAS-tohr-uhl, from the same root as “pasture.”) Pastoral literature, pioneered by the Greek poet Theocritus (thee-AHK-ri-tus; c. 310-250 B. C.), featured shepherds in a country setting. The language of the speakers in such poems was far more sophisticated than that of typical herdsmen, however.
The Eclogues characterized Vergil's later work, most notably by referring to a whole array of ancient writings. Theocritus had set his pastorals in the Greek region of Arcadia (ar-KAY-dee-uh). For Vergil, Arcadia became not so much a place as a state of mind. Thus today, the word “arcadian” refers to a place of simple pleasures and quiet.
In spite of their peaceful setting, the Eclogues contained more than a hint of the troubles in Rome—most notably the confiscation of lands by the state, a situation that had affected Vergil personally. His next work, the Georgies (JOHR-jikz), or “Points of Farming,” would build on this contrast of bright and dark.
The Georgies
With the publication of the Eclogues in 37 b. c., Vergil attracted praise and admiration from many influential
Romans, most notably the statesman Maecenas (mi-SEE-nus; c. 70-8 B. C.). Maecenas took Vergil under his wing, both personally and financially, and suggested that he write a book on agriculture.
But Maecenas also had a political purpose in mind, one relating to the troubles in the countryside. He wanted Vergil to encourage Romans, many of whom had left their farms, to return to planting. The desertion of the countryside was one of the great problems throughout Roman history and would help bring about the fall of the empire centuries later. The Georgies turned out to be far more than a political advertisement.
The work consists of four books—actually long poems—that discuss in turn grain production, growing of trees and vineyards, raising animals, and beekeeping. Again, Vergil showed his command over all the classics of his day, bringing in themes from Homer and a number of other poets. Taking a cue from the Works and Days of Hesiod, for instance, he explained how humans had been forced to scratch out a living from the land. This theme is also discussed in the Israelites' Old Testament, though it is doubtful that Vergil had any exposure to the Book of Genesis.
As with the Eelogues, Vergil created a shadowy backdrop in the Georgies, suggesting that constant war would threaten the peaceful Roman countryside. For a Roman, such a viewpoint was not “politically correct.” Roman citizens were always supposed to support their country's wars. In his final and greatest work, Vergil would continue this theme with even greater impact, weaving it into an epic that celebrated the founding of Rome.
The Aeneid
More honors followed the publication of the Georgies in 29 B. C.: Octavian, who had by then assumed full control of Rome, gave Vergil two country estates and a generous annual allowance. Two years later, Octavian would be crowned emperor. His friends suggested that Vergil compose an epic in his honor.
Vergil spent the last ten years of his life on the project, an epic that came to be known as the Aeneid (uh-NEE-ed). Its story picks up where Homer's Iliad (IL-ee-ed) leaves off, with
The destruction of Troy. In many ways, it is the mirror image of the Iliad and Odyssey [AHD-i-see; see sidebar]. The Trojans, rather than the Greeks, are Vergil's heroes. Whereas the Odyssey—a tale of wandering—follows the Iliad’s story of conquest, Vergil reversed the order.
The Aeneid begins with the Aeneas (uh-NEE-uhs) leading a small group of Trojan pioneers who sail away to found a new Troy. The first half of the epic concerns their adventures as they wander through the Mediterranean. The latter half describes how they conquer the land that would one day become Rome.
The tale brings in a whole range of ancient ideas, from reincarnation to Stoic philosophy to Aristotle's (see entry) ideas about potentiality. Vergil suggests that the entire future of Rome was contained in the events of Aeneas's conquest, symbolized by a shield given to Aeneas by the gods that depicts all the major events of Roman history up to the rise of Octavian.
World History
