Juno in the 'Aeneid'

Juno in the 'Aeneid'

1. Juno and Aeneas

   • Juno vindictively pursues Aeneas because she thinks she isn't getting the worship she deserves
     • 'Is there no one left who worships the godhead of Juno?'
       • seems absurd- Aeneas is pious and explicitly makes offerings to Juno in Book 8
         • 'even to you, O greatest Juno'
     • Juno's harrying of Aeneas makes him seem more heroic because he achieves everything despite this
       • does the fact he was always going to do it (because of Fate) reduce this?

2. Juno and Turnus

   • Bk 12- accedes to Jupiter and accepts that she can't help Turnus anymore
     • is this neglectful of mortals?- the idea that mortals are the pawns of immortals- ultimately they are inconsequential to mortals
     • 'With a bowed head..."Because I have known your will, great Jupiter, against my own wishes I have abandoned Turnus and abandoned the earth.'
   • Bk 7- sends Allecto to rouse Turnus to war
     • 'she threw a burning torch at the warrior and it lodged deep in his heart.'
     • 'the lust for battle raged within him, the criminal madness of war'
     • ultimately causes Turnus' death and the war in Latium but frames it as protecting Turnus
       • 'do not l I have protected the warrior Turnus and your walls.'ay the blame on me...

3. Juno and women

   • Dido
     • although Venus drives A&D together, Juno is responsible for the heightening of Dido's tragedy
       • however she doesn't intend to harm Dido
       • 'Let us make one people of them and share authority equally over them '
       • pushes them together and intensifies Dido's suffering at their parting
         • however does this for her own gain- Machiavellian
           • 'Venus realised this was a pretence in order to divert the empire of Italy against the shores of Libya'
   • Amata
     • shows her determination to thwart Aeneas
       • 'If I cannot prevail on the gods above, I shall move hell.'
         • her association with Hell, and in particular the gruesome descriptions of Allecto, makes Juno's involvement seem evil and malevolent
     • her control over Amata shows again how mortals are in thrall to immortals, and how defenceless they are
       • 'like a spinning top flying under the plaited whip'
       • 'she died a hideous death in the noose of a rope tied to a high beam'
         • causes pointless misery and then kills Amata- fruitless because she doesn't achieve her aims