From Amor to Arma: Love and Hate in Virgil's Aeneid - Book VII

The Concordia Classics Lecture Series is presented by the Concordia Classics Student Association and the Department of Classics, Modern Languages and Linguistics.

FROM AMOR TO ARMA: LOVE AND HATE IN VIRGIL'S AENEID BOOK VII

In Aeneid 7, the outbreak of war between the Trojan refugees and the native Italians threatens to prevent the fulfillment of Aeneas’ destiny as the founder of Rome. The narrative of the book focuses predominantly on the origins of the conflict: Juno’s enduring hatred of the Trojans (A. 7.286–321); her recruitment of Allecto to instigate violence (A. 7.322–340); and Allecto’s infuriation of Amata, Turnus, and Ascanius (A. 7.341–510). This presentation will explore the ways in which amor (love, passion) inflames the hostilities that erupt into full-scale war.