Initial thoughts on my individual study question...

I have been considering a number of options for my Classical Studies individual study this year; I've been really interested in all the work we've been doing on the Odyssey, especially on its cultural relevance to the Achaean people at the time it was written and the way it describes the relationship between aristoi, demos and immortals. I've also been intrigued by the book's many references to the Iliad, and am determined to read this by the end of the year out of curiosity (if nothing else).

I do, however, have a huge amount of background knowledge on another, very different, classical text: the Aeneid, by Virgil. I studied this text during most of 2012 as part of my Stage 2 Latin course, and feel the knowledge I have of this text - especially in the context of the fact that I've read a good deal of the final book (in my opinion, the most intriguing of the poem) in Latin, and have, therefore, a much better understanding of its function as poetry - would be an invaluable resource to use in my project. I have also read a good deal of Caesar's De Bello Gallico in Latin, which was extremely interesting as a propaganda and historical document, and would be very interesting to examine in this context - perhaps even in comparison to the Aeneid, given the way this poem champions the emperor Augustus?

Some of my ideas for questions are below:

• In what ways are the characters of Odysseus and Aeneas comparable, and how are they presented as different types of heroes by Homer and Virgil?
• How do the Aeneid and the Odyssey differ in the ways in which they present relationships between demos, aristoi, heroes and immortals?
• In what ways are Caesar's De Bello Gallico and Virgil's Aeneid comparable as documents of propaganda?
• What are the differences in the morals of the two stories of the Odyssey and the Aeneid?
• How do the Aeneid and the Odyssey present Roman and Greek culture in similar and different ways?