| Current scholarship in Virgil's Aeneid includes the search for subtexts and subthemes and also investigation into father/son relationships. While there has been examination of maturation motifs in Greek myth and legend, there has been no serious exploration of initiatory themes in the Aeneid with regard to Ascanius. The focus of this dissertation is a study of the initiatory pattern itself, its manifestations in ancient and Classical Greek literature and culture, Republican Roman practices which reflect this motif, and then an analysis of these influences in the portrayal of the growth and development of Ascanius. In addition, there is a brief study of Euryalus, Pallas, and Camilla as they undergo the initiatory process and reasons for their failures.;In the first three chapters I explore the origins of rites of passage, associated with fertility and marriage ceremonies, and their evolution into initiations into adulthood, studying especially the Greek and Roman cultures, for whom initiations into adulthood were part of everyday life, expected and assumed.;In Chapter Four I establish the initiatory process from the childhood to the adulthood of Ascanius. The first of three steps, separation of the child from his mother, occurs when Ascanius and the Aeneadae flee from the burning Troy; in the second stage, the margin or instructional period, Ascanius undergoes a journey, learns the lore, traditions, and religion of his people, endures dangers, and learns the skills of warfare through the hunt; finally, Ascanius achieves adult status in the eyes of the heroic/warrior community by his leadership in council and the slaying of an enemy.;The similarities between Ascanius and Euryalus, Pallas, and Camilla are considered in Chapter Five with an eye toward the important differences which cause all three of the latter to fail, and die, in their attempts to achieve adult status. Their failure, not without considerable literary and historical precedent, serves as a foil to the success of Ascanius as he joins the adult world and the heroic community. |
