Abstract
This study is a literary analysis of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid. Of specific interest are the interactions of Achilles, Odysseus, and Aeneas with their beloved dead. I focused on what each party, both the living and the dead, wanted and the results of their interaction. Methods included reading passages from the ancient Greek and Latin texts and integrating these with historical evidence of beliefs in the mid-eighth century BC for the Greeks, and in the late first century BC for the Romans. Homer significantly influenced the religious beliefs of the Greeks, while Virgil did not similarly affect Roman religion.
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