We spend much of our time on this episode comparing and contrasting the shield that the maker god Vulcan (called Hephaestus in the Greek pantheon) forges for Aeneas with the one he previously forged for Achilles. The latter depicts general human scenes of sailing, fighting, dancing, and ritual, while the former depicts specific moments of Roman history and Roman triumph. What can these differences tell us about the differences between these cultures, and the differences between Roman culture and our own?

This leads us to ask a series of larger questions about the nature of Vergil’s art. Over and over again in this poem we read prophecies and portents of Rome’s future greatness and the ascension of Augustus Caesar to quasi-divine status. Is Vergil, then, essentially a propagandist for the State? Is he beholden to an idea of history which overwhelms him and damages the honesty of his poetic vision? What is history anyway? And what is propaganda? Can you really have one without the other? To learn the absolute, definitive, and final answers to these questions you will have to listen to week’s episode of the Key to All Mythologies.