During the rule of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus, a man by the name of Publius Vergilius Maro (known as Virgil in English) wrote one of the most widely read epic poems. The poem is named the Aeneid. Virgil begins and ends the Aeneid with parallels to the Iliad of Homer. This encourages the reader to consider Virgil's style of poetry in light of Homer's. Parallels can be seen in the shield descriptions of the two classic epic poems. Virgil Similar in certain aspects, the shield scenes are also distinctly different. The similarities (of the gods forging the shield and of the mothers) in the shield scene illustrates Virgil's attempt to imitate the Homeric style, while the distinct differences in the time period focused on shield demonstrate Roman values. This makes Aeneid characteristically Virgilian.
One similarity involves the production method of the shields. In the Aeneid, Virgil writes that "Now Venus, as a mother sorely frightened, / and with good reason, / turned to Vulcan" (Aen. 8: 491-494). Similarly, Homer writes in the Iliad, "Thetis of the silver feet came to the house of Hephaestus" (Il. 18: 369). Venus (the mother of Aeneas) and Thetis (the mother of Achilles) both ask a god to forge arms for their sons. The same god with different names (Hephaestus in Greek and Vulcan in Rome) forged the shields of the two heroes.
A second similarity, which follows the Homeric model, is the reason for the forging of the shields. The shield is made to assist Achilles kill Hektor. Likewise, the shield is made to assist Aeneas kill Turnus. Indeed Venus says, "Here are the gifts I promised, / so that you need not hesitate to challenge Arrogant Laurentines of Savage Turnus" in the Aeneid (Aen. 8: 828-831).
The moment that details about the shields are discussed, major differences of the scene are illustrated. Through these differences, Virgil attempt to surpass the Iliad and express Roman values at the same time.
