Repetition in the Aeneid Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Ancient Rome depended heavily on repetition; a repetition of Greek architecture, a repetition of the Olympians, and even a repetition of Greek literature. This is not to say that Roman culture was a cheap copy of Greece, because the Romans strove not only to match the rich Greek culture, but to rise above it. Virgil's Aeneid is a great example of the way the Romans aimed to glorify Rome by imitating Greece. The theme of repetition is crucial in Virgil's poem, particularly in Book VI, where history, myths and tales recur or predict an event. Near the beginning of Book VI, we enter a temple dedicated to Apollo, and upon entering, our narrator reiterates the story that gave rise to this temple. It is significant that the history of a county is described so meticulously, and early in the book, in a way that interrupts the reader and Aeneas (for he stops to admire the gates) from continuing with the story. This not only gives the notion of history a sense of great importance in the poem, but suggests that everyone must yield to history, even a great hero like Aeneas. This short story begins with the story of the inventor/artist Daedalus, who escapes the kingdom of Minos using a pair of artificial wings. After landing he built this temple and dedicated it to Apollo. The temple doors also feature numerous carvings describing their history. What is most peculiar about that story is that it does not refer directly to Apollo or the location of the temple, but to an entirely separate narrative and myth. The historical tale of Daedalus begins with the death of King Minos' heir, Androgeus. Upon the death of Androgeus at the hands of the Athenians, King Minos punishes the citizens of Athens by demanding the sacrifice of seven young men and seven young women every year. The concept of bloody sacrifice appears several times in the Aeneid, as each book mentions at least one bloody sacrifice made to the gods. However, the sacrifices performed by Aeneas characterize him as a pious and grateful servant of the gods because they are performed in honor of the gods. King Minos' human sacrifices are not performed in honor of the gods, but to ease his own pain and feed a monster conceived by sin. By requiring these annual sacrifices to satisfy himself, Minos not only proves himself to be a cruel and brutal leader, but ascends (or tries to ascend) to the status of an angry god. The scene of the "seven bodies" (Book VI, ln. 31) of the Athenian boys destined to feed the hungry Minotaur alludes to an earlier episode in Book I in which Aeneas hunts seven deer to feed his hungry crew. The language of the poem describes the deer as “seven giant bodies along the earth” (Book I, ln 267-8) and reveals that the deer were not only sacrificed to appease the hunger of his men, but also to “[calm] the their melancholy hearts" (Book I, ln. 275). The request for the sacrifice of seven lives occurs once again while Aeneas is still in front of the carvings on the door of the temple of Apollo. Here Deiphobe asks Aeneas to sacrifice seven bulls from “a flock that the yoke has never touched” (Book VI, ln. 55). This request refers to the sculpture of Athenian sacrifices, since the individuals sacrificed were young - like bullocks - and perhaps even too young to truly participate in hard manual labor. The carvings on the temple door continue with the story of Pasiphae. and the Minotaur. The story of Pasipha? it is the story of a woman's extreme infatuation with a male, even if not human, which leads her to commit the unthinkable; the narrator calls it one,.