THE SIBYL AND THE DESCENT INTO THE UNDERWORLD

Aeneas arrives in Cumae – in Campania – to question the Sibyl, one of the most famous oracles of antiquity. The priestess, pervaded by the god Apollo, can predict the future and informs him of the vicissitudes he will have to face, gives him a glimpse of the future greatness of Rome and guides him into Hades, the realm of the dead.

According to tradition, the gates to the underworld opened wide at Lake Avernus, where Aeneas descended to see his father Anchises. Book VI of the Aeneid is dedicated to this episode and there are numerous references to the sacred places in the city of Cumae: the temple of Apollo, the highest temple on the acropolis, built by none other than Daedalus in flight from Crete, surrounded by the sacred wood of Artemis; the cavern of the Sibyl, the gates to Hades.

Virgil recounts in great detail the journey that Aeneas makes, in the company of the Sibyl, into the realm of the dead, until he reaches the Blessed Groves. Here Aeneas emotionally glimpses the shadow of his father Anchises, who is in turn moved by the sight of his son: Aeneas, in tears, tries three times to embrace him without succeeding, showing a sincere love for his father and a deep respect for past generations.

This meeting, awaited by both, gives Anchises the opportunity to show Aeneas the future protagonists of the new Italic race that will descend from the Trojans. The first to be named are the future kings of Alba Longa, who are credited with founding cities in lands that are as yet anonymous. Then it is the turn of Romulus, the founder of Rome, a small and rustic city at first, but destined to become an empire. In a more solemn voice, Anchises goes on to introduce the Emperor Augustus, adopted son of Julius Caesar and direct descendant of Ascanius. Then the story resumes the historical series, from the kings to the men of the republican age, until we meet the young and unfortunate Marcellus, grandson and adopted son of Augustus, who will die prematurely at the age of nineteen. This long presentation of the descendants and their deeds will make Aeneas accept the new tasks.

Anchises also tells his son about a future closer in time: the war against the Rutuli that Aeneas will have to face once he has arrived in Latium. But as the Sibyl had already done, Anchises also reassures Aeneas of the positive outcome of this event.

The meeting ends with Anchises leading Aeneas and the Sibyl out of the underworld.

Quickly, without mentioning his farewell to his father and to Sibyl herself, Virgil takes Aeneas back to his fellow travellers and then by ship to Gaeta.