Predictions for 2024 World of the Hero Paper

I'm going to do my best shot at predicting the Iliad + Aeneid 20Ms and the Aeneid 30M! If anyone has any other theories please feel free to add on

Iliad past 20 markers have included: immortal women, xenia, life in the city of Troy, Patroclus' death, things that are important to Achilles and Achilles' behaviour in bk24 vs the rest of the Iliad.

The topics left uncovered by the spec include: Time/kleos, minor characters like diomedes or odysseus, death/mortality/burial, slaves, reconciliation, fate, family, role of the gods and slaves

Personally I think its unlikely to be on the topic of men and women, mortal women or any of the female characters just bc it was on immortal women last year (I don't have the specific question for that so I'm just going off what someone on reddit said lol)

There's been lots that are quite achilles focused and they haven't done a specific character one in a while so it COULD be on minor characters like diomedes, odysseus, agamemnon or menelaus. A hector question maybe? But they had a Turnus 20m last year so maybe not...

The past Aeneid 20m include: Turnus, portrayal of dido, warfare in bk2, love leading to loss, aeneas' journey to Italy, and aeneas' 'unheroic' portrayal in the second half. Again v. main character heavy. I'd put money on them moving away from achilles/aeneas specific questions for the next couple papers.

Uncovered topics include: family (or smth about pallas, iullus or anchises), portrayals of the trojans/greeks/italians/carthaginians, war, pietas, furor, role of the gods, women, civil war, fate, cities

family is my best bet, since fate, civil war and broader themes like pietas and furor are the examiners fave topics for Aeneid 30m, since they have a bit more meat and critical debate to them

the recent dido questions means its unlikely to be a woman question since she makes up the majority of those arguments

Past Aeneid 30 markers include: fate and the role of the gods, the 'depressing' nature of the epic, aeneas as a victim or hero, aeneas lacking human emotion, negative impact of warfare and praising augustus

Almost definitely think it will be something about piety or furor, since thats the other big critical argument apart from fate. civil war is also possible. they've done a lot on aeneas as a character the last couple years and w/ the recent dido and turns 20 markers its unlikely to be on them (imo)

TL;DR

Iliad 20m > minor characters, death + burial
Aeneid 20m > family (pallas/iullus/anchises)
Aeneid 30m > piety, furor, civil war

Hope this helps! Pls add ur own ideas... together we can get pretty close I think

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Reply 1

chappers1234

Original post by cinmnsoul

I'm going to do my best shot at predicting the Iliad + Aeneid 20Ms and the Aeneid 30M! If anyone has any other theories please feel free to add on
Iliad past 20 markers have included: immortal women, xenia, life in the city of Troy, Patroclus' death, things that are important to Achilles and Achilles' behaviour in bk24 vs the rest of the Iliad.
The topics left uncovered by the spec include: Time/kleos, minor characters like diomedes or odysseus, death/mortality/burial, slaves, reconciliation, fate, family, role of the gods and slaves
Personally I think its unlikely to be on the topic of men and women, mortal women or any of the female characters just bc it was on immortal women last year (I don't have the specific question for that so I'm just going off what someone on reddit said lol)
There's been lots that are quite achilles focused and they haven't done a specific character one in a while so it COULD be on minor characters like diomedes, odysseus, agamemnon or menelaus. A hector question maybe? But they had a Turnus 20m last year so maybe not...
The past Aeneid 20m include: Turnus, portrayal of dido, warfare in bk2, love leading to loss, aeneas' journey to Italy, and aeneas' 'unheroic' portrayal in the second half. Again v. main character heavy. I'd put money on them moving away from achilles/aeneas specific questions for the next couple papers.
Uncovered topics include: family (or smth about pallas, iullus or anchises), portrayals of the trojans/greeks/italians/carthaginians, war, pietas, furor, role of the gods, women, civil war, fate, cities
family is my best bet, since fate, civil war and broader themes like pietas and furor are the examiners fave topics for Aeneid 30m, since they have a bit more meat and critical debate to them
the recent dido questions means its unlikely to be a woman question since she makes up the majority of those arguments
Past Aeneid 30 markers include: fate and the role of the gods, the 'depressing' nature of the epic, aeneas as a victim or hero, aeneas lacking human emotion, negative impact of warfare and praising augustus
Almost definitely think it will be something about piety or furor, since thats the other big critical argument apart from fate. civil war is also possible. they've done a lot on aeneas as a character the last couple years and w/ the recent dido and turns 20 markers its unlikely to be on them (imo)
TL;DR
Iliad 20m > minor characters, death + burial
Aeneid 20m > family (pallas/iullus/anchises)
Aeneid 30m > piety, furor, civil war
Hope this helps! Pls add ur own ideas... together we can get pretty close I think

This is really helpful! Last years Iliad 20m was "How were MORTAL women expected to behave" so still could be a Q on Immortal women but I think it will be unlikely. Also maybe a Q on portrayal of war as that is on the spec?

Reply 2

chappers1234

does anyone do greek religion or theatre and have any predictions for them?

Reply 3

cinmnsoul

Original post by chappers1234

ah I didn't know that thanks for clarifying! yeah I'm not convinced it will be women related- portrayal of war could be good since that's a pretty big theme that they haven't done a 20m on yet...

Reply 4

cinmnsoul

just got to thinking!! a simile or speech 20m could come up for either... they have never done one of those b4...

Reply 5

ikeafannypakck

i dont do the illiad but for the aeneid i'm really hoping women come up! i feel like it would be such a good question. maybe also a 30 marker on virgils purpose of writing the aeneid, so like augustan propaganda, glorifying rome, entertaining the audience etc.

Reply 6

cinmnsoul

Original post by ikeafannypakck

Virgil's purpose would be SO nice I'm praying for that

Reply 7

emrma

I don’t know if this makes sense but I feel like the wording of the question will trip me up 😭

As in like the theme of women and how they are presented in the Aeneid seems good on paper but I feel like OCR will reword/focus that question making it sound sm harder

Reply 8

waffelton

Original post by chappers1234

does anyone do greek religion or theatre and have any predictions for them?

The Frogs comes up every year on the paper so idk maybe something about the gods across all three plays? We haven’t really had that yet. For religion I have no clue.

Reply 9

alecks

what would people write for civil war in the aeneid? as a 30 or 20 honestly i’m struggling so hard on it

Reply 10

ikeafannypakck

Original post by alecks

what would people write for civil war in the aeneid? as a 30 or 20 honestly i’m struggling so hard on it

i honestly can’t see CIVIL war coming up, maybe war but i doubt it will be on civil war specifically - i guess you could write about the context so augsutus and his wars, the shield of aeneas ekphrasis and how it glorifies war, but also the death and negative effects which come from it , like death of youth, grief etc

Reply 11

emrma

Does anyone have any resources for scholarship? If you could share that would be great as trying my best to cover as many themes as possible 🫶

Reply 12

cinmnsoul

Original post by alecks

what would people write for civil war in the aeneid? as a 30 or 20 honestly i’m struggling so hard on it

depending on what the question would be, you might have to shine a slightly different light on it, but here's what I've got on civil war

civil war takes a central role in the plot of the Aeneid, ensuring Aeneas can win the hand of Lavinia in marriage and thus fulfil his destiny to become king of Latium, but, due to the recent contemporary history of Rome that Virgil had lived most of his adult life through and the collapse of its republic, is also an inescapable theme of reference throughout the work.

Virgil was 21 at the start of the civil wars and 40 when Anthony was killed > experienced war for most of his adult life

quotes

BK1 'Great too were his sufferings in war before he could found his city and carry his gods into Latium. This was the beginning of the Latin race, the Alban fathers and the high walls of Rome' > From the very start we are aware that the trojans will become latins. This is not an explicit reference to civil war, but it plants the idea that eventually these two peoples will become one.

BK2 Trojans dressing as greeks and being fired on by their own side > a sort of prelude to the civil war in Latium

BK6 'Those two spirits you see gleaming there in their well-matched armour are in harmony now while they are buried in night, but if once they reach the light of life, what a terrible war they will stir up between them! What battles! What carnage when the father-in-law swoops from the ramparts of the Alps and his citadel of Monaco [6.830] and his son-in-law leads against him the embattled armies of the East!' > Disguised reference to caesar and pompey. Not only is it a civil war but a war between family. Civil war is still recent history to those listening (many might have fought or had family who died in it)

BK7 "'Tell me, sons of Dardanus – you see we know your city and your family and had heard about you before you set your course here…that Dardanus was born in these fields and went far away to the cities of Ida in Phrygia and the Thracian island of Samos now known as Samothrace.'" > Latinus to the Trojan embassy. Although this quote is used to highlight the fact that the trojans were destined to return to the land of their ancestors and therefore this is their birthright, it also reminds the readers that the latins and trojans came from the same ancestor and will be rejoined under Aeneas. They are already the same people and will be the same people

Bk7 has a catalogue of the tribes fighting against Aeneas … The names of their homes were established towns in Augustan times (Tibur, Nomentum etc.) > The enemies of aeneas come from the same place as virgil's contemporary readers

BK 8 "O you who are born of the race of the gods, who are bringing back to us the city of Troy saved from its enemies, who are preserving its citadel Pergamum for all time, long have we waited for you in the land of the Laurentines and the fields of Latium. This is the home that is decreed for you. This is the home decreed for the gods of your household." > Tiber himself. This is the land already decreed to Aeneas, so he is fighting his own people on his own land

the shield

•

'On one side was Augustus Caesar, leading the men of Italy into battle alongside the Senate and the People of Rome … On the other side, with the wealth of the barbarian world and warriors in all kinds of different armour, came Antony in triumph from the shores of the Red Sea and the peoples of the Dawn. With him sailed Egypt and the power of the East from as far as distant Bactria, and there bringing up the rear was the greatest outrage of all, his Egyptian wife!'

•

First story is romulus and remus. Next is the rape of the sabine women. Episodes virgil selects are quite troubling

•

Rests on a series of key oppositions set up by virgil > Battle between east vs west, male vs female, one vs many, olympian gods vs egyptian gods, order vs chaos. Turns civil war into a foreign conquest, its not abt romans fighting romans. Propaganda reframing civil war?

•

Romulus and remus episode > Idyllic pastoral setting w/ no hint of what is to come, clearly selective telling of the story, omits uncomfortable truth that rome is founded on fratricide. emphasis on violence throws in stark relief what is left unsaid in the story of romulus and remus

•

story is of rome's propensity to inner confict, her tendency towards civil strife, actium is then the inevitable outcome of rome's propensity to turn against herself

BK 8 "It is you who are favoured of the Fates for your years and your descent. You are the man the gods are asking for. Go then, O bravest leader of all the men of Troy and Italy, and I shall send with you this my son Pallas" > Evander is already proclaiming aeneas as the leader of both troy and italy

bk12 ‘But if Victory grants the day to us and to our arms – as I believe she will, and may the gods so rule – I shall not order Italians to obey Trojans, nor do I seek royal power for myself. Both nations [12.190] shall move forward into an everlasting treaty, undefeated, and equal before the law. I shall give the sacraments and the gods. Latinus, the father of my bride, will have the armies and solemn authority in the state. For me the Trojans will build the walls of a city and Lavinia will give it her name.’ > Aeneas believes they should live peaceffully w/ each other. The war which is fought by Aeneas has been undertaken reluctantly and with no purpose of conquest: it is directed always to the aim of securing peace, both for his own people whom he wishes to see quietly settled in Italy, and for his Latin opponents whom he has no wish to subdue

bk 12 ''What god could unfold all this bitter suffering for me? What god could express in song all the different ways of death for men and for their leaders, driven back and forth across the plain, now by Turnus, now by Trojan Aeneas? Was it your will, O Jupiter, that peoples who were to live at peace for all time should clash so violently in war?'' > Virgil's own musings

bk12 "'The people of Ausonia will keep the tongue of their fathers and their ancient ways. As their name is, so shall it remain. The Trojans will join them in body only and will then be submerged. Ritual I will give and the modes of worship, and I will make them all Latins, speaking one tongue. You will see that the people who arise from this admixture of Ausonian blood will be above all men'" > Jupiter's declaration to Juno. This importantly does not end the Aeneid, Aeneas' and Turnus' duel does. Although throughout we have had reference to this war as akind of civil war, it is now made explicit, but the two sides keep fighting.

Pattie > the civil wars caused "deep feelings of guilt" in the Roman world, and "Virgil's handling of his legendary material reflects these feelings"
Marshal > 'Battle between many... female versus male... one versus many... order versus chaos... Roman gods versus Egyptian', 'Virgil sets is up as a foreign war, not a civil war'
Quinn > Virgil knew that the audience would understand his allegorical references to Augustus and the civil war.
Morgan > "Virgil is trying to persuade his readers to think differently about the civil wars, they are ghastly, but they were necessary too"

There's a lot to say, you can really see that the topic is at the forefront of Virgil's mind. At some points he tries to disguise the civil nature of various wars (think parry's 'two voices') but he really can't hide everything. The references are very interesting and subversive...

Reply 13

Krishk15

Predictions for odyssey or Aeneid questions ?

Reply 14

waffelton

Original post by emrma

Does anyone have any resources for scholarship? If you could share that would be great as trying my best to cover as many themes as possible 🫶

I’ll send mine over

Reply 15

emrma

Original post by waffelton

I’ll send mine over

Thank you!

Reply 16

cinmnsoul

Original post by ikeafannypakck

if its a 30m question on war I think you would be remiss not to talk about civil wars... literally all the fighting in the second half of the aeneid is technically a civil war and there is even hints of it in bk 2... not only does he emphasise the pathos of war generally but he also condemns/refigures civil wars to make it even more impactful

Reply 17

ikeafannypakck

Original post by cinmnsoul

yeah, i agree 100%, i could see them possibly ask another q about war in general but i doubt it would be specifically on civil war. 🫠 either way i’m absolutely terrified for the exam lol!

Reply 18

cinmnsoul

Original post by ikeafannypakck

yeah, i agree 100%, i could see them possibly ask another q about war in general but i doubt it would be specifically on civil war. 🫠 either way i’m absolutely terrified for the exam lol!