Pietas and the Homeric Heroes

March 23, 2026  

Pietas is described by T.S. Elliot as “an attitude towards the individual, the family, the region, and towards one’s destiny” (On Poetry and Poets, 142), for having these virtues Aeneas is aptly called pious. However, some make the mistake of thinking that Virgil is making a conscious move away from the brutish and unvirtuous Homeric heroes. This essay will prove that all the virtues thatAeneas professes have their roots in the Homeric heroes and that Virgil is merely adapting his hero, Aeneas, to his Roman audience. First, Aeneas’s love of his homeland is an emulation of Odysseus’s wish to come home. Second, Aeneas’s love of his family is like Achilleus’s love of his father. Lastly, Aeneas’s devotion to the gods is merely the response made to good destiny vs the terrifying destiny of Achilleus. 

Aeneas’s love of his homeland is a fundamental part of who he is as a character. The Aeneid is the story of how Aeneas fights through many conflicts to build the new Troy. Aeneas understands Troy as a people not just a place, so he seeks a place where his people can live how they have always lived. That feeling of love towards his people leads him to leave Dido despite being offered a common space in Carthage. He understands that the new Troy cannot lose its culture and way of life by assimilating with another culture. This love of country is building off the love of Odysseus for his homeland and his epic journey to return. Odysseus, after being trapped on an island by Calypso, must fight his way back to the beautiful cliffs of his home, Ithaca. Throughout his voyage, he must overcome many obstacles to return home, and the only motivation that he has is the love of his family and homeland. He speaks passionately about his homeland and how much he wants to return, not even knowing that his house has been overrun by suitors for his own wife. One scene is particularly striking that points to Odysseus’s love of his homeland, as they are passing by the island of the Sirens, women-like birds that sing deceptively to lure people onto their island where they would die. Odysseus puts beeswax in the ears of all his sailors but commands his men to tie him to the mast and not to untie him no matter how hard he begs, willfully exposing himself to the temptation of the Sirens. This scene shows Odysseus’s determination to return home, willfully subjecting himself to pain to harden himself for the journey ahead. The virtue of patria shown by Aeneas in The Aeneid, regarding love of country, is an emulation of the love that Odysseus has for his homeland/country.   

Aeneas’s love for his family is quite telling with his act of carrying his father out of burning Troy and his return into the city to attempt to find his wife. Aeneas has great devotion to his family to the point of potentially sacrificing his destiny and a chance for glory by returning into the burning Troy to locate his wife who he knows is most likely dead. This devotion to one’s family is a theme throughout the Homeric epics as well, one will remember that Achilleus was willing to give back the body of his worst enemy Hector to his father Priam in remembrance of his own father and the sorrow that he knew his father would feel in a similar circumstance. Priam, when pleading with Achilleus, appeals to his greedy side first, but Achilleus is not satisfied. Even his mother, Thetis, appealed to his greedy side by saying “give him up and accept ransom for the body” (The Iliad, 500). However, it is only after the appeal to the common father/son relationship that they both share by saying “remember your father, one who/is of years like mine, and on the door-still of sorrowful age” (The Iliad, 510) that Achilleus relents. Achilleus had everything to gain by hanging onto the body of Hektor, as he could have used the body as a ransoming tool to end the useless war that no one wanted to fight. However, Achilleus is more honorable than to be won over by treasure alone. He is finally convinced by the “stirring of passion of grieving/ for his own father” (The Iliad, 510). Just as Aeneas is tempted by the thought of staying permanently in Carthage with Dido but ends up being moved by his love of his family to continue on his journey, Achilleus is moved by love and sorrow for his father to have mercy on Priam and to give back the body of Hektor.   

Aeneas is known for his great devotion to the gods, making many stops in his journey to give sacrifices and accepting his destiny to build the city of Rome. One might point out that several Greek heroes attempt to deny or are sullen about their destinies whereas Aeneas is happy to give up everything to follow his destiny, however, these are not fair comparisons. Furthermore, it would be untrue to say that Aeneas was always focused on his mission. Several times he must be called back to his mission by the divine. In Carthage, for example, he is remarkably close to staying in comfort in the city with Dido. However, Mercury tells him on Jupiter's orders that he must leave Carthage. This situation is like the story of Achilleus staying behind the enemy lines because of his anger at Agamenon for stealing his prize, Briseis, and like Aeneas, he repents and accepts his destiny. However, unlike Aeneas, Achilleus is criticized for being sullen about his destiny in The Iliad, however, this is not a fair comparison to Aeneas because Aeneas has a positive destiny, to found the new Troy and bring about a new and glorious empire, whereas Achilleus has a more negative destiny, that he will be glorious for a short while but in the end will die young in war. How can one then say that Aeneas is more pious because he follows his destiny and listens to the gods whereasAchilleus seeks to avoid his destiny when their destinies are so vastly different? Instead, readers should recognize that the servant, Achilleus, that says he will not do the bidding of his masters, the gods, but precedes to do it anyway is still a good and faithful servant. Aeneas ends up doing the gods bidding just like Achilleus and so they should be regarded as pious. Hence, the piety of Aeneas is an imitation of the piety of Achilleus. 

In conclusion, Aeneas’s show of pietas is not a new development but a virtue stemming from Homer and his heroes. Aeneas’s love of country is merely building off the existing theme of returning home characterized by Odysseus. Aeneas’s love of family is great, however it is parallel with that of Achilleus who gives up his rightfully won prize, Hektor’s body, to his father for love of his own father and respect for his mother. Aeneas’s ‘love’ of the gods is contingent upon the greatness of his destiny and so is not any better than the nobleness of Achilleus charging into his destiny headfirst. Finally, Aeneas’ pietas is not unique whatsoever, nor does Virgil present them as such; instead, Aeneas is a Roman addition to the Homeric Canon with the same or similar virtues as the best of the Greeks.

Works Cited: 

Homer, The Iliad, translated by Richmond Latimore, The University of Chicago Press, 2011, Chicago and London 

Eliot, T. S. On Poetry and Poets, Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2009, New York 

Homer, The Odyssey, translated by Richmond Lattimore, Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2007, New York 

Virgil, The Aeneid, translated by Robert Fitzgerald, Vintage Books, 1990, New York