Due Sep 22
Ptolemy’s Epicycles and Equant
Ptolemy’s answer to Plato’s problem. Philosophies of science: idealism vs. empiricism. The ancient philosophical concept of the Music of the Spheres. Writing in the Arts: close reading.
Astronomy Reading
- Openstax Astronomy (pdf | online), re-read Chapter 2.2 and 2.3
- Biography of Ptolemy: link
- Optional: Magli, Archaeoastronomy, Ch 10, “The Classical World” (selections).
- Viewing: the Roman Pantheon (link).
Fieldwork
Data Processing (trial run): using a photograph of the setting sun as reference, mark on a local map your position as well as the direction of the sun. 1¶ reflection: how confident are you in these findings? How might you use landmarks in the photographs to improve the accuracy of your findings? Upload your map and reflection to the Autumnal Equinox fieldwork page.
Arts Assignment
Read Virgil, Aeneid II, 836-869. In a 1-2¶ response posted in the comments below, respond to ONE of the following prompts:
- discuss Virgil’s ideas about the role of the heavens in human affairs
- contrast Virgil’s account of the cosmos with the one from Matthew 1:18–2:12 last week
Virgil’s ideas about the role of the heavens in human affairs.
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During the time of the Greeks and the Romans they strongly believed that gods often meddled in human affairs. For example, during the Trojan war, the Greeks had Poseidon and Athena on their side assisting them in anyway they could and giving divine protection to the heroes of battle. The Trojans had Apollo and Aphrodite siding with them. People at the times viewed war and conflicts as not only human resolution, but a grudge battle for the Gods as well. It’s like they were playing chess on earth, but the pieces are people and places.
It was commonly accepted that people were simply the Gods’ playthings and although they could be appeased ultimately the Gods would decide their fate. Therefore, this reflects Vergil’s depiction of Anchises as a resigned and accepting man. Anchises now understands that the Gods have played their games and his team has lost, which he sees as a sign that he now must die with them.
It’s very interesting. It’s clear that Virgil heavily weights the movements of heavenly bodies when thinking about human affairs. Many of the planets in the Solar System are named after Greek/Roman gods, so the people at the time placed great importance on them. It seems they use some form of astrology/belief when making decisions, and rely greatly on the movement of the stars to inform them. Here, Aeneas looks up and sees “across the night she gleamed with pure light, unmistaken goddess”. This refers to Venus, and once again, Aeneas looks to her for advice. Whether the advice comes from the “goddess” speaking to him or through the planet’s movement across the sky, either way it helps Aeneas make decisions. That’s the crux of how Virgil seems to depict heavenly bodies.
There are accounts of praying the the heavens if there is any good in them because they’ve had to witness horrific events. It seems Virgil’s ideas show how much of an importance the heavens was in their society. They are at the mercy of the heavens and can’t do anything about it but obey, questioning why horrific things happen to them. Seemingly frustrated with the reality the heavens laid out for them. Also “he dragged him to the very altar stone, with Priam shuddering and slipping in the blood that streamed from his own son”. This alter stone is used to perform rituals, placing the heavens as very important to their society.
While at their mercy, they also worship the heavens and the gods. When Virgil describes his mother as being lovely, he says she is being seen by the heavens and describes her as a goddess, further proving how rooted, idealized, and powerful the heavens is. They need the heavens approval and want to satisfy them. Anchises describes how he is useless and therefore hated by the gods, saying how this has been going on for too long, centering the heavens in their society.
I find Virgil’s idea of heaven both interesting and unsettling. Human affairs seem to be shaped by people and their relationships, as the war appears to result from the actions of Helen and Paris. However, Virgil suggests that the gods actually decide the final outcome. Aeneas sees divine powers bringing Troy down like an ancient tree. No matter how bravely the Trojans fight or how closely they cooperate, human strength cannot resist what heaven has already decided. Their defeat therefore feels less like failure than fate.
What stands out to me most is that people appear to have choices, but those choices are very limited. Venus tells Aeneas to flee and protects him, so even his survival depends on divine favor. Anchises also says that if heaven wanted him to live, the gods would have saved his home. This makes humans seem like tools for fulfilling divine purposes. They can choose how to respond, but they cannot choose the fate waiting for them. To me, their freedom is more apparent than real.
In Virgil’s Aeneid II, actions of nature on the earthly level are seen as omens from the heavens that influence human decisions and emotions. In short, everything happens for a reason. At the end of the excerpt, Iulus is handed into his father’s arms by Creusa in an attempt to prevent him from leaving the house to fight. As she reminds him of what he would be leaving behind, flames begin forming around the child. At first, the family fears the fire, but Iulus’s grandfather recognizes it as a sign from above.
The fire is interpreted as telling Aeneas to take his family with him, maintaining them as a unit rather than abandoning them. I feel that humanity likes to look for signs in tragedy, searching for reason and logic within the often devastating chaos of reality. In this case, a house surrounded by flames becomes a setting for a divine sign of unity and love. We resist the idea that death and suffering can simply be random and cruel, instead wanting to assign the actions of nature and humanity to an entity – one that can be accused, spoken to, and reasoned with. The grandfather pleads with the gods not necessarily in an attempt to change the course of history, but rather to find reason within the tragedy presented to him.
I think Virgil shows that the heavens and the gods have a strong effect on human life. At first, Aeneas thinks that the fall of Troy is mainly caused by people and the war. But Venus tells him that the gods are also part of the reason why Troy is being destroyed. So, to me, it feels like people in the story cannot fully control what happens to them. The gods can change events and also guide people.The shooting star is probably the clearest example. Anchises does not want to leave Troy at first, but after he asks Jupiter for a sign, there is thunder and a shooting star moves across the sky. After seeing this, he changes his mind and agrees to leave. I think this shows that people in the story really believe the sky can give them messages. The heavens are not just something they look at. They can actually affect important choices in their lives.
The way Virgil discusses the heavens implies that they are an active force, whom greatly control the ongoing affairs of humanity. For example, during the fall of Troy, Aeneas initially believes Helen should be held responsible, that she is the reason for their pain. However Aeneas’s mother Venus tells him it is the gods who are destroying Troy — “It is the gods’ relentlessness, the gods”
Whilst the heavens are thought to be responsible for much suffering, it seemed they also provided guidance. When Aenea’s family is questioning whether to flee Troy, thunder and a shooting star appear over Ascanius’s head which the they interpret as a sign from Jupiter, telling them to leave with Aeneas. This further Implies the medaling of the heavens with human affairs. The dichotomy in their actions confuses me. Why cause such suffering only to provide guidance to escape said suffering?
By reading the Aeneid it seems Virgil believes the heavens play a major role in human affairs. The Aeneid was written in the late Roman Republic when Romans believed in a pantheon of gods, similar to those who supposedly lived on Mount Olympus in the Greek cannon. We see several gods from this pantheon descend to earth to meddle in Aeneas’s life. Venus descends from the heavens to advise Aeneas, and Jupiter later sends shooting stars and lightning bolts as heavenly signals. The fall of Troy is also attributed to “the gods’ relentlessness”. It feels astrological in the way Virgil looks to the sky for guidance, but his stories push beyond astrology to personify pieces of the heavens and give them each motivations for impacting human behaviors. However, regardless of it’s degree it is clear that Virgil thought the heavens played a great role in the lives of humanity.
What stood out to me is that Virgil sees the heavens as the real force behind human events, but not one that rewards goodness. Venus makes this clear when she tells Aeneas that Helen and Paris aren’t to blame for Troy’s fall: the gods are, with Neptune tearing up the walls, Juno holding the gates, and even Jupiter urging them on. Piety doesn’t protect anyone either. Priam begs the gods for justice and is killed at the altar, and Anchises believes Jupiter’s lightning has marked him as hated by heaven. Still, the heavens aren’t only destructive, because they also send signs, like the flame on Iulus’s head and the shooting star, and these are what finally convince Anchises to leave. So the heavens seem to work as fate for Virgil: humans can’t bargain with them or change what they’ve decided, but they can read the signs and choose to follow them.
Virgil’s Aeneid shows that the heavens and the gods have a lot of influence over what happens in people’s lives. When Troy is being destroyed, Venus explains to Aeneas that it is not just because of Helen or Paris. The gods themselves, including Neptune, Juno, and Jupiter, are involved in what is happening. This shows that even though humans make their own decisions, there are bigger forces that they cannot always control.
The heavens are also used as a way for the gods to communicate with people. When Anchises does not want to leave Troy, he asks Jupiter for a sign. Soon after, there is thunder and a shooting star in the sky, which convinces him that they should leave. I think Virgil uses this moment to show how much people depended on signs from the heavens for guidance. The sky was not just something above them, but something they believed could tell them what the gods wanted them to do.
One of the biggest things I took away from Virgil’s writing is how much the gods and the heavens control people’s lives. Honestly, it makes everything feel pretty hopeless. When Troy is being destroyed, Aeneas wants to blame the people around him, especially Helen. But Venus steps in and shows him that the gods are actually the ones tearing the city apart. At that point, all the fighting and suffering almost seem pointless because gods like Jupiter and Neptune have already decided what is going to happen. It feels like the humans are just following a path that has already been chosen for them, no matter how much they try to fight against it.
What I find even more interesting is that even though the gods have so much control over them, people still depend on them for guidance. Anchises, for example, refuses to leave his home until Jupiter gives him a clear sign. That sign comes through thunder and a shooting star. I think that shows how complicated their relationship with the heavens really is. The gods are helping destroy Troy, but the people still look to them for answers about what to do next. The heavens were not something distant or symbolic to them. They were a real and constant force that affected almost every part of their lives.
It seems like the heavens play a huge role in human affairs. In specific, Aeneas calling out “If there is any goodness in the heavens” almost feels like a call for help as if what is happening in real time to them is a response or some sort of anger from the heavens above them. In addition, when Anchises wants proof he should leave Troy, he looked up at the sky and called on Jupiter for some sort of guidance as if it has a sense of authority or guidance. Jupiter in specific seems to be a powerful force amongst the other planets as sudden thunder crashed down and followed in the next lines.
Virgil showed that the heavens actively guide human life and enforce fate. When Troy is falling, Anchises stubbornly refuses to leave until the gods step in with clear signs. First, a harmless flame touches Ascanius’s head, and right after, thunder claps on the left while a shooting star streaks across the sky toward Mount Ida. For Virgil, the sky basically acts as a messenger for Jupiter. Major cosmic events aren’t just natural wonders, rather they are direct commands that push people back onto the path they are meant to follow, even when they want to give up.
Due to this, humans will always take a back seat to what the heavens decree. The moment Anchises sees the star, his entire attitude changes—he prays, accepts the omen, and agrees to go wherever the gods lead. Virgil uses this to show that doing the right thing means listening to and respecting these cosmic messages. According to him, the heavens don’t just watch over humans, they actively validate Rome’s future and steer affairs exactly where the gods want it to go.
It seems to be that Virgil believes that the Gods heavily meddle with human affairs. Throughout the story, the idea that it is not so much the humans’ fault for destruction, but rather the Gods getting their way and carrying out their duties. War and destruction are merely aftereffects of this. The Gods shake the walls of the humans without reason. The father, as he lay dying, claimed that if the Gods had wanted a longer life for him, it would be so. This shows the humility and reverence for the Gods that Virgil had. At the end, Anchises began to pray to Jupiter and asked him for help to guide them. As soon as he asked for a sign, thunder crashed down and a shooting star came, showing that Jupiter was listening. This shows that though the Gods may cause destruction, they also listen to the humans and can help if they are humble and part to them. The father then asks the Gods to save his homeland and his grandson, yielding to the Gods, showing that there is no control he has over any of the events other than belief and prayer. The idea of the heavens being this overarching, uncontrollable power seems to be heavily pushed by Virgil. However, more than the idea of the heavens, it seems to be this idea that destruction and war will always happen, and it is not necessarily the fault of the opposition, rather than the uncontrollable tides of life. The only way to live fully and aware, is to live in humility to something higher than you; to have belief that you are not the center and there is a much bigger game at hand.
Virgil presents the heavens as an active force that directly shapes human affairs and reveals humanity’s fate. When Aeneas is overwhelmed by the destruction of Troy, his mother Venus appears to him and explains that Troy is not being destroyed simply because of Helen or Paris, but because of the gods themselves. Aeneas then sees Neptune tearing Troy from its foundations, Juno encouraging the Greek forces, and Pallas watching over the destruction. The heavens therefore determine major events on Earth, including the destruction of cities and the survival of individuals. Virgil also shows that the gods communicate with humans through heavenly signs. When Aeneas and his family are uncertain whether they should flee Troy, a flame appears over Ascanius’s head, followed by thunder and a shooting star. Anchises interprets these signs as a message from Jupiter and accepts that the family should leave Troy. The heavens in Virgil’s account are not distant or symbolic alone; they actively control events, communicate divine intentions, and guide humans toward their destined futures.
The Romans, Greeks and other Mediterranean armies interlinked the success of their human affairs with gods. For example, in the text, Anchise’s response to the shooting start omen, where he treats a natural phenomenon as a literal military and poltiical green light, as the gods “confirm” the sign does he agree to abandon the city. I think through reading this, they believed that their success, destiny, and even decisions, were all dictated by the gods. The movement of planets, and astronomy in general, were what they believed were the message from the gods. I think that overall, the main principle is that I learnt is that the role of heavens are deeply rooted at all factors of what we consider a good society, specifically in their laws and policies.
The role of the heavens is detrimental for human affairs, oftentimes humans are set to do a certain action and the outcome seems to be dictated by the heavens and what astronomical events happen at that time. Since there were a lot of political shifts in Rome during this time, there was a lot of uncertainty in life and the heavens are a good way of providing some certainty or guidance. The heavens were seen as places to put prayers with celestial objects being the objects talked to or personified on their own.
It’s interesting that celestial objects like Jupiter have a personified aspect to them, in contrast to Matthew 1:18 where celestial objects are just objects as a means through God, but not necessarily gods themselves. The heavens are real, tangible, and massive proponents for change or for events in real life whereas the cosmos are more elusive, in the background, or part of a larger story surrounding the actions of only God. There’s also another note of the description of brutality and violence compared to the more toned down version from Matthew 1:18. Instead of God helping humans with rough, violent, or uncertain outcomes, it’s the heavens themselves that are catalysts for bad outcomes and for possible salvation.
In the reading, Virgil presents that the heavens and the gods play an important role in guiding the people on earth. During the destruction of Troy, Aeneas originally thought that Helen and Paris were responsible for the destruction. Venus then appears to him and tells him that the gods are the ones destroying Troy. Aeneas then sees the gods ruining the city through the humans. This shows that the destruction is larger than just human actions and that the gods have more control over human affairs than we think.
The heavens also send signs to guide humans. For example, a flame appears over Ascanius’s head and after asking for conformation, Jupiter sends thunder and a shooting star. Anchises takes this as his sign from the gods to leave Troy with his family. Virgil portrays the heavens as active force in human life. In this passage he demonstrates that the gods can cause destruction, send protection signs, and communicate with humans through signs.
Virgil shows the heavens as having a major role in human affairs because the gods have control over what happens to people and their futures. When Troy is being destroyed, Aeneas first blames people like Helen and Paris, but Venus explains that the gods are actually responsible for Troy’s fall. She even allows Aeneas to see the gods physically helping destroy the city, showing that humans cannot always control what happens to them. However, the gods also guide people, as seen when the flame appears over Iulus and a shooting star gives Anchises a sign that the family should leave Troy. These signs convince Anchises to accept the gods’ plan and escape with Aeneas. Overall, Virgil suggests that humans cannot control the plans of the heavens, but they can choose whether or not to recognize and follow the guidance they are given.
The Greeks largely viewed astronomy and the Gods as the same entity, one being interchangeable with the other. Virgil’s, and by extension the Greeks’, view of the heavens was that of utmost importance in the lives and affairs of humans. In the passage we see Venus calm down Aeneas from his uncontrollable rage. She acts as both a God and a planet, and appears to Aeneas not in human form but in the sky, amongst “heaven’s beings.” When she is done speaking to Aeneas she shrinks behind the night’s thick shadows. This is a literal interpretation of the planet being obstructed by the clouds in the sky. Thus Aeneas’s interactions with the goddess and the sky are one and the same. This is made even clearer when the gods are referred to as “heaven’s lords” implying that the heavens are a proxy for the higher power or gods that rule and dictate the emotions, reasoning, and logic of the mortal greeks. The motions of heavens are just as important to the lives of the greeks as the motions on the ground.
Virgil views heaven as a cosmological place, within or above the star’s, presided over by Greek gods and goddesses. Humans are “heaven’s beings” and their actions are judged and either punished or rewarded by heaven’s lords. When an egregious act is committed in the case of Pyrrhus killing Priam’s son Polites in front of him, Priam insists, “if there is any goodness in the heavens to oversee such acts, for this offense…may you find your…proper payment from the gods.” Nothing occurs on Earth that the gods do not wish. “If heaven’s lords had wanted longer life for [Priam], they would have saved [Troy].”
What I find most interesting in the passage is how Virgil uses the heavens to show that we as humans cannot see what really goes on. Aeneas was about to kill Helen for the Trojan War, which makes sense because, as a human, that is all he could see. Then the goddess Venus appeared and removed the cloud that had been covering his eyes. Now he could see that the gods were the ones destroying Troy. Neptune was destroying the walls, Juno was controlling the gates, and even Jupiter helped the Greeks. It was not just a war between people but a war between the gods. I think this is the point of how Virgil uses the heavens. We can only see what is going on on the surface, so we see people killing each other, and that is who we blame. He is trying to say that the heavens are responsible for what happens, but we as humans are not able to see them at work. Even Anchises was confused by the heavens. He had been struck by lightning from Jupiter years before, so he thinks the gods hate him and does not want to leave Troy. Only those who follow the stars really know what happens.
For Virgil, the heavens are not simply the passive backdrop for the fall of Troy, but an active agent in the business of mortal affairs. This idea comes across especially in the revelation of Venus to Aeneas, when what seems like the fall of a city to Greek soldiers becomes the demolition of the walls by Neptune, the control of the gates by Juno, and Jupiter himself “spurring / the gods against the Dardan arms.” The destruction of Troy becomes something else entirely, it becomes the working out of divine will through mortal agents, and that is exactly why Venus needs to “rip away each cloud” from Aeneas’ “human sight,” because without divine intervention mortals would see these actions as nothing more than military conquest, and the question of Priam’s, “whether there is any good in the heavens / to witness this deed,” shows just how confusing and morally troubling that could be.
And yet, the heavens do not just bring destruction; they also give permission and redirection. The harmless flame that dances over Iulus’s head and the meteor that appears after Anchises’s prayer (921–947) serve as another, secondary level of communication from the divine realm, one that directs Aeneas away from his private inclination to exact vengeance (kill Helen) and back on track to fulfill the fate ordained by the gods and lead to the founding of Rome. And thus in this passage, the heavens operate on two levels at once: the violent and mysterious destruction of Priam and Troy, and the decipherable system of omens that reward proper interpretation with life. Human actions, in other words, are not ever independent; they are part of a greater divine plan beyond their control.
Virgil makes it seem like the heavens have a very direct role in human affairs. The destruction of Troy is not shown as something caused only by the Greeks, because the gods are also involved. Jupiter gives strength to the Greeks and turns the gods against Troy, while Venus protects Aeneas and tells him that he needs to stop fighting and leave. Aeneas even says that he is “guided by a god” as he escapes through the city. This makes it seem like the gods have much more control over what is happening than humans do.
At the same time, humans still have to decide how they respond to what the gods have planned. Aeneas listens to Venus and tries to save his family, while Anchises at first believes that if the gods wanted him to live, they would have saved his home. To me, Virgil seems to show the heavens as controlling the larger fate of people, while humans can mainly choose how they react to it.
In Book 2, Aeneas is not a hero acting on his own conviction. He is a man perpetually overruled by the heavens. When his rage against Helen boils over, it is not his own restraint that stops him but Venus, physically seizing his hand and unveiling the gods tearing down Troy’s walls themselves. Neptune, Juno, Pallas, Jupiter; each is caught mid demolition, and Aeneas is told, in effect, that his fury is beside the point. The destruction was never a human failure; it was always a divine verdict. This is Virgil’s first move: to strip Aeneas of the illusion that vengeance, grief, or even virtue can compete with what the heavens have already decided.
And yet the heavens do not simply command, they authorize. Anchises will not leave his ruined home until the sky answers him directly, first a tongue of flame on Iulus’ head, then a shooting star splitting the dark toward Mount Ida. Only then does the old man yield: “Now my delay is done; I follow.” Human resolve, Virgil suggests, is not self generated but sanctioned; Aeneas does not choose his fate so much as wait to be shown it. The heavens do not merely oversee human affairs here, they author them, and mortals are left to interpret the smoke and thunder for permission to act on what they already feel.
Contrasting Virgil’s cosmology with the one in Matthew 1:18–2:12.
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In Matthews 1:18, the star is used more as a guiding light, a beacon of light in which the wise men look up to for directions. It is treated more as an item, or guide instead of a person. However, in Virgil’s writings, the shooting star is portrayed as a response from the heavens, where the sky is personified as a godly being. They look up to the sky when they wish to find answers from their god, and the stars are described as being answers to their questions.
A striking difference between the stories is the role of God, or celestial beings, in the fate of humans. In Matthew, there’s only one God referenced, but angels appear many times as messengers for God in providing instruction, guidance and direction to Mary, Joseph and the three wise men in leading them away from danger. In Virgil’s passage, there are many Gods referenced, and there is a feeling that their displeasure with humans has brought about the fall of Troy. It appears the fate of humans is in the hands of the gods.
One similarity between the stories is the importance of stars. In Virgil’s story the shooting star is seen as a sign from the Gods which finally has Anchises agree to leave with his family. “At last, won over by this sign, my father rises, to greet the gods, to adore the sacred star: ‘Now my delay is done; I follow; where you lead, I am.” In Matthew, the star which the wise men saw in the east, “went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.”
Both stories use a star to mark the start of a new family line but the heavens behind them are really different. In Virgil’s Aeneid, the sky is packed with gods who are actively fighting. Venus clears Aeneas’s eyes so he can see what’s really happening. Neptune is tearing down the walls and Juno is holding the gates. Athena is up on the towers and Jupiter is the one pushing all of them on. The star only shows up after Anchises prays to Jupiter for a sign. When it finally comes it shoots off toward Mount Ida and basically points the family out of Troy and into exile.
Matthew’s version is a lot calmer. There’s only one God and he never actually appears. Instead he just sends the star and some dreams. Nobody asks for the star either, the Magi see it on their own and follow it until it stops over the house where Jesus is. The only violence comes from Herod, who is scared of what the star means for his power. So in the Aeneid the heavens destroy one city to push Aeneas toward founding Rome, while in Matthew the heavens guide strangers toward a newborn king. Virgil shows you the gods doing the work meanwhile the book of Matthew just shows you the sign.
It’s interesting that celestial objects like Jupiter have a personified aspect to them, in contrast to Matthew 1:18 where celestial objects are just objects as a means through God, but not necessarily gods themselves. The heavens are real, tangible, and massive proponents for change or for events in real life whereas the cosmos are more elusive, in the background, or part of a larger story surrounding the actions of only God. There’s also another note of the description of brutality and violence compared to the more toned down version from Matthew 1:18. Instead of God helping humans with rough, violent, or uncertain outcomes, it’s the heavens themselves that are catalysts for bad outcomes and for possible salvation.
Virgil’s account of the cosmos, in particular the sign of the shooting star, differs from the account of the star in Matthew’s account of the Gospel in two key features. Firstly, the account of Virgil is more directly based on destruction and sorrow, as opposed to the Bible’s account of a blessing and righteousness. Virgil does not hold back in explaining the cause of this shooting star, that being a prayer Anchises makes to Jupiter in determining whether Aeneas is to “let [him] at the Greeks again, to make my way back to new battles” by himself or with Anchises, Aeneas’ wife Creüsa, and his son Ascanius (Virgil, 905-906). The story is wrought with the actions of Pyrrhus, performing a “slaughter” among the King of Troy’s descendants, even so much as “have made [him] see the murder of [his] son, defiled a father’s face with death” (Virgil 708, 722-723). Ascanius wants to kill himself, not wanting to “let his life be drawn out after Troy has fallen” (Virgil 860-861). The gods themselves are the ones underlying present in the conflict, with Venus telling Aeneas that “those to blame […] is the gods’ relentlessness, the gods’, that overturns these riches” (Virgil 812-816). Matthew’s account, in contrast, is filled with hope. The angel visiting Joseph tells him directly to “do not be afraid,” and that his son “will save his people from their sins” (NRSV Matthew 1:20-21). When the magi arrived in Bethlehem, “they were overwhelmed with joy,” and gave gifts to Jesus Christ (NRSV Matthew 2:10). The story Matthew writes is one that portrays the cosmos as a sign of hope, the heavens helping those on Earth find fulfillment. The story Virgil writes, however, portrays the cosmos as a reflection of human character: one of conflict and death, sorrow and destruction, even among the gods themselves.
To that end, Virgil’s account has the gods and humans interact more directly than in Matthew’s account. Leading up to the star’s appearance, Anchises’ plea is direct to the god Jupiter, to “grant to us your help and let your sign confirm these omens” (Virgil 936-937). It is a direct plea to the gods for guidance. Similarly, Venus is described as “my gracious mother” by Anaeas, having a personal, familial relationship with the goddess (Virgil 795). The gods act as a driving force for the war, reflected in the humans they mark as their own. In contrast, Matthew’s account of the star is less dependent on human influence. The magi simply “observed his [Jesus’] star in the east” to then travel to Bethlehem (NRSV Matthew 2:2). The rest of the account is similarly ordinary. The magi head to Jerusalem to speak with King Herod, who “sent them to Bethlehem,” then go on visiting Joseph and Mary, “entering the house” and “opening their treasure chests” (NRSV Matthew 2:8, 2:11). There is little divine presence in this account, and the presence that is there is not one of human violation. An angel speaks with Joseph in the opening, but Joseph did not prompt the angel there or speak to the angel himself; the angel “appeared to him in a dream” and he “awoke from sleep” (NRSV Matthew 1:20, 1:24). The angel leading the magi to “their own country by another road” spontaneously appeared to help the magi avoid King Herod, again without prompt from the magi themselves (NRSV Matthew 2:12). The cosmos in Matthew’s gospel is detached from human influence, with God and the angels directing human behavior on their own accord separated from a close relationship with them (before Jesus bridges the gap later in the text). The cosmos with Virgil, on the other hand, is more dependent on humans. They have a strong and intimate bond with humanity, treating them as family and trusted militia and directly acknowledging their prayers and actions.