The Birth of Political Hegemony in Virgil’s the Aeneid, Essay Example

Arguably, one of the key themes of the Aeneid is the concept of political power and hegemony. Aeneas, essentially a refugee from his native Troy after their disastrous defeat to the Greek forces, is forced to sail to find a new homeland. However, central to the narrative at the same time is that this journey is not one of hopeless, destitution and despair, but instead a journey of fate, whereby Aeneas, from the initial tragedy, is destined to found a great political empire – what would later become the Roman Empire. In this sense, we can understand Virgil’s narrative as an attempt to understand the trials and tribulations which lead to the consolidation of political hegemony.

Destiny is a key rhetorical device used to ensure the greatness and legitimacy of a political empire. It is as though no other alternative were possible: even though Aeneas is lost, a wanderer, this deprivation is only the prelude to the greatness of the empire he will found. For example, the God Jupiter states “young Romulus will take the leadership, build walls of Mars and call by his own name his people Romans. For these I set no limits, world or time, but make the gift of empire.” Romulus, the descendant of Aeneas, is destined to found a great empire and, therefore, Aeneas, in his tribulations, is essentially clearing the path for this empire. Despite his trauma and suffering, Aeneas is destined to ensure the political hegemony of Rome. From this perspective, therefore, the adventures of Aeneas become a justification for Rome’s political hegemony: the struggles of Aeneas ensure the righteousness of the rule of Rome in Virgil’s vision of how political hegemony is formed.