On this episode we discuss the meaning of the funeral games Aeneas hosts to honor his father Anchises. The funeral games are a trope of Epic poetry, appearing in both the Iliad and the Odyssey, and were obviously rituals of great importance to ancient peoples. We try to think about why this was. Is some quality of Aeneas’ leadership displayed here? Is there something distinctly “Roman” about these games, as compared to the games in those other Epics? We also consider the strange scene which ends this book, where the Trojan woman, left to mourn on the beach while the men compete in the funeral games, are driven into a frenzy by the appearance of the goddess Iris, and attempt to burn the ships. Is this more than just another example of the poem’s unsubtle linking of women and femininity to irrationality, passion, and chaos?