Virgil

Question 1

Amazon

Answer 1

• Camilla is not literally an Amazon, but referred to as one because she is very similar.
• Amazons were warrior women mentioned in the Iliad by Homer, who helped the Trojans during the Trojan War.
• In some myths, they fought with one bare breast; in other versions, they removed one breast to make it easier to draw back the bow.

Question 2

Camilla

Answer 2

Camilla is Virgil’s own invention.
- Camilla of the Volsci is the daughter of King Metabus and Casmilla.
(- Driven from his throne, Metabus is chased into the wilderness by armed Volsci, his infant daughter in his hands.)
(- The river Amasenus blocked his path, and, fearing for the child’s welfare, Metabus bound her to a spear.)
- He promised Diana that Camilla would be her servant, a warrior virgin.
(- He then safely threw her to the other side, and swam across to retrieve her. The baby Camilla was suckled by a mare)
- She was raised in her childhood to be a huntress and kept the companionship of her father and the shepherds in the hills and woods.
(- Virgil says that Camilla was so fast on her feet that she could run over a field of wheat without breaking the tops of the plants, or over the ocean without wetting her feet).

Question 3

bow and arrows of Diana

Answer 3

Roman goddess of hunting and the moon. Usually depicted/described holding bow and arrows.

Question 4

Larina, Tulla and Tarpeia

Answer 4

Camilla’s companions. The names are Italian

• Larina is connected with the Italian town Larinum
• Tulla suggests the early Roman king Tullus
• Tarpeia is the same name as the (much later) Vestal Virgin after whom the Tarpeian rock in Rome was called.
• Virgil thus links people and places from his day with the ancient past (time of Aeneas).

Question 5

Thracian Amazons

Answer 5

• Thrace is a region centred on the modern borders of Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, near where the Amazons were sometimes said to be from.
• Here, the word more loosely means the area of the cold north, implying the Amazons are tough.

Question 6

Thermodon

Answer 6

River in area of Black Sea associated with Amazons.

Question 7

Hippolyte

Answer 7

• An Amazonian queen, daughter of Mars
• had a magical girdle
  (- Herakles’ ninth labour was to steal the girdle. In some versions, he killed her for it. In another myth, she marries Theseus (either being abducted by him or falling in love with him) but is put aside by him in favour of someone else, and later killed, in some versions accidentally by her sister Penthesilea.)

Question 8

Penthesilea daughter of Mars

Answer 8

• Another Amazonian queen
• sister of Hippolyte and daughter of Mars (god of war)
• She fought very bravely at Troy, but was killed by Achilles.

Question 9

Eunaeus son of Clytius

Answer 9

First victim of Camilla

Question 10

Liris and Pagasus

Answer 10

Victims of Camilla

Question 11

Amastrus son of Hippotas

Answer 11

Victim of Camilla

Question 12

Tereus

Answer 12

Victim of Camilla

Question 13

Harpalycus

Answer 13

Victim of Camilla

Question 14

Demophon

Answer 14

Victim of Camilla

Question 15

Chromis

Answer 15

Victim of Camilla

Question 16

Phrygii = Trojan

Answer 16

• The Trojans are the survivors from the race from Troy

- trying to settle in Italy under the leadership of Aeneas. Phrygian is an alternative word for Trojan.

Question 17

Ornytus

Answer 17

Victim of Camilla. A huntsman.

Question 18

Iapyx

Answer 18

Ornytus’ horse

Question 19

Tyrrhene = Etruscan

Answer 19

• Etruscans were an Italian race.

- Aeneas had sought help from them earlier in the story, so many Etruscan fighters are on his side.

Question 20

Orsilochus and Butes

Answer 20

Victims of Camilla. Two very big Trojans.

Question 21

son of Aunus

Answer 21

Victim of Camilla. From Liguria.

Question 22

Apennines

Answer 22

Mountain range in central Italy.

Question 23

Ligurians

Answer 23

Race who lived in the Apennines.