In the midst of sailing to Troy to retrieve Helen, the Achaean army have to stop at Aulis because of the weather, cursed by the Olympian God and preventing them from proceeding any further. What will King Agamemnon do, when the seer Calchas has advised the King that in order for their safe passage, they must sacrifice his eldest daughter, Princess Iphigenia, to Artemis? Facing turmoil, betrayal, fear and grief, Iphigenia is beckoned to Aulis; what will become of her? Based on available English translations of Homer's "Iliad, "Iphigenia at Aulis" and "Iphigenia at Tauris by Euripides, this is my take on the events that led up to Iphigenia's sacrifice.

The Aeneid is an epic poem written in 12 books and is modeled in part on the great Greek epic poems, on Homer's Iliadand Odyssey, and on Apollonius' Argonautica. The Iliad describes the exploits of Achilles and other Greek heroes in the Trojan War (the same war which forced Aeneas to leave Troy and is described in Book II of the Aeneid) whilst the Odyssey describes how Ulysses (or Odysseus in Greek) wandered for many years, trying to return home after the Trojan War. The first six books of the Aeneid parallel the Odyssey because they describe Aeneas' search for a home. Aeneas even stops in many of the same places that Odysseus did. There is an important difference, however, for whilst Odysseus was trying to return to his original home, Aeneas must find a new place in which to settle and make his home. The second six books parallel the Iliad, for they describe the war in Italy just as the Iliad describes the Trojan War. Again, there are many parallels. For example, the Trojans are besieged inside their fort in Italy just as they were trapped inside Troy. But again there is an important difference, since the Iliad describes how the Trojans lost the war and Troy fell but in theAeneid the Trojans win the war in Italy and get the chance to build a new city. Virgil imitates many scenes from both the Iliad and the Odyssey in his epic, but he always changes them in significant ways so that they illustrate his own Roman themes. One of the most important differences between Homer's epics and the Aeneid is that it can be read as a patriotic poem whilst the Iliad and the Odyssey are poems about individuals and their adventures.