The Gods
In Virgil’s Aeneid, the Roman epic of the Trojan Aeneas and his voyage to Italy, the gods take part in the action. Virgil’s gods are the Roman counterparts of the Greek Olympians, and each has a Greek name that Greek literature, including Homer’s Iliad, uses for the same figure.
The sections that follow take the principal gods in turn: Juno, Venus, Jupiter, Neptune, Mercury and Apollo. Each entry gives the Greek name and describes what the god does in the poem, as the book-by-book summaries record it.
The principal gods
Juno is the queen of the gods, and in the Aeneid she opposes the Trojans. In Book 1 the Trojans are overtaken by a storm that Aeolus raises at her request. In Book 4 she raises a second storm, with the consent of Venus, which drives Aeneas and Dido into the same cave. In Book 5 she sends Iris to persuade the Trojan women to burn the ships. In Book 7 Turnus, favored by Juno and Alecto, breaks the agreement Latinus had made with Aeneas, which included his promise of his daughter Lavinia.
Venus is the mother of Aeneas and acts throughout the poem to protect him. In Book 1 she complains to Jupiter of her son’s misfortunes, and she meets him in the shape of a huntress and conveys him in a cloud to Carthage. By her device Dido begins to feel a passion for him. In Book 2 her appearance helps persuade him to leave Troy. In Book 5 she procures from Neptune a safe voyage. In Book 8 Vulcan makes arms for Aeneas at her request. In Book 12 she cures Aeneas of his wound.
Jupiter is the chief of the gods. In Book 1 he comforts Venus and sends Mercury to procure a kind reception for Aeneas among the Carthaginians. In Book 4 he sends Mercury to warn Aeneas away from Carthage. In Book 5 a miraculous shower sent by Jupiter extinguishes the fire set to the ships. In Book 10 he calls a council of the gods and forbids them to engage in either party.
Neptune is the god of the sea. In Book 1 he drives off the winds and calms the sea after the storm raised by Aeolus. In Book 5 Venus procures from him a safe voyage for Aeneas and his men, with the exception of the pilot Palinurus, who is lost.
Mercury is the messenger of Jupiter. In Book 1 he is sent to procure a kind reception for Aeneas among the Carthaginians. In Book 4 Jupiter dispatches him to Aeneas to warn him from Carthage.
Apollo keeps the same name in Greek and Latin. In Book 3 Aeneas goes to Delos and asks the oracle what place the gods have appointed for his habitation. A mistake over the oracle’s answer leads him to settle in Crete, until his household gods give him the true sense of it in a dream.