Själens spegel - psykets kroppsliga uttryck i Vergilius Aeneiden
Mirror of the soul - bodily expressions of the mind in Vergil's Aeneid
Author
Summary, in English
It is fascinating to think on how antiquity pictured the human body and especially the connection between the mind and body. To better understand this I have studied how Virgil uses medical, anatomical, and physiological terminology to describe feelings and psychological phenomena. Furher, I have studied the metaphoric value of this terminology and sought for explanations in differences between Virgil’s use and a more modern usage.
Methodologically I have focused on the Aeneid, Virgil’s largest and most complex work, furthermore Rome’s great national epic and one of the world litterature’s most important works. I have searched the Aeneid for words that Virgil uses to describe feelings and other psychological phenomena and then studied in what way he uses them as metaphors. Virgil’s way of using many medical, anatomical, and physiological words show that he had a certain medical knowledge. When it comes to feelings and the inner life it is mainly focused in what is usually translated as “the soul” and in the chest. Virgil uses mainly four words translated as “the soul”: animus, anima, mens, and spiritus. These words have partially different meanings with animus representing the feelings, mens representing the more rational reasoning and the mental consciousness, and anima and spiritus representing the more physical aspect of the soul and life: it is anima that departs from the body at death. Animus and the emotional and rational feelings, as well as anima and the physical life are mainly placed in the chest, pectus, and I argue that a main reason is that the most vital organs, such as the heart and the lungs, are located here. Since the Aeneid is aimed to be the national epic of Rome, it is primarily characteristics such as strength, courage, and the more hardly translated virtus, that are important. In relation to the rational thought, I think it is natural that these feelings and characteristics are placed in the chest.
Further, the blood is very important as a metaphor and I propose that this is associated with the fact that blood was much more present during antiquity: war and gladiator games were generally present and hospitals largely absent. Especially the black and rotten blood was very important and associated with something threatening and sinister.
Finally, a main theme of the Aeneid is a chest wound representing both a physical and psychological suffering, which is introduced during the first couple of lines where Juno has an eternal wound as a sign of her unfair treatment. In the final lines, Turnus dies from a chest wound and during the entire Aeneid we are following the wounded Dido which initially has a wound of love which grows from a silent wound into a physical wound that eventually kills her. From the discussion that the chest is central to the emotions and life, the tremendous metaphoric meaning of this wound is obvious.
Methodologically I have focused on the Aeneid, Virgil’s largest and most complex work, furthermore Rome’s great national epic and one of the world litterature’s most important works. I have searched the Aeneid for words that Virgil uses to describe feelings and other psychological phenomena and then studied in what way he uses them as metaphors. Virgil’s way of using many medical, anatomical, and physiological words show that he had a certain medical knowledge. When it comes to feelings and the inner life it is mainly focused in what is usually translated as “the soul” and in the chest. Virgil uses mainly four words translated as “the soul”: animus, anima, mens, and spiritus. These words have partially different meanings with animus representing the feelings, mens representing the more rational reasoning and the mental consciousness, and anima and spiritus representing the more physical aspect of the soul and life: it is anima that departs from the body at death. Animus and the emotional and rational feelings, as well as anima and the physical life are mainly placed in the chest, pectus, and I argue that a main reason is that the most vital organs, such as the heart and the lungs, are located here. Since the Aeneid is aimed to be the national epic of Rome, it is primarily characteristics such as strength, courage, and the more hardly translated virtus, that are important. In relation to the rational thought, I think it is natural that these feelings and characteristics are placed in the chest.
Further, the blood is very important as a metaphor and I propose that this is associated with the fact that blood was much more present during antiquity: war and gladiator games were generally present and hospitals largely absent. Especially the black and rotten blood was very important and associated with something threatening and sinister.
Finally, a main theme of the Aeneid is a chest wound representing both a physical and psychological suffering, which is introduced during the first couple of lines where Juno has an eternal wound as a sign of her unfair treatment. In the final lines, Turnus dies from a chest wound and during the entire Aeneid we are following the wounded Dido which initially has a wound of love which grows from a silent wound into a physical wound that eventually kills her. From the discussion that the chest is central to the emotions and life, the tremendous metaphoric meaning of this wound is obvious.
Department/s
Publishing year
2015
Language
Swedish
Full text
- Available as PDF - 699 kB
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Document type
Student publication for Bachelor's degree
Topic
- Languages and Literatures
Keywords
- latin
- vergil
- aeneid
- body
- expression
- mind
- soul
- anatomy
- medicine
- physiology
- vergilius
- aeneiden
- kropp
- själ
- anatomi
- medicin
- fysiologi
- metafor
- metaphor
Supervisor
- Cajsa Sjöberg (senior lecturer)