Sebastian Brant

Anchises, Aeneas and King Anius stand in the sanctuary of Apollo on the island of Delos and either beseech Apollo for an omen (85-9) or listen to the oracle they receive (94-8). They face a statue of Apollo placed atop a column, and face away from the the shrine behind them.  If they are in fact listening to the oracle, and not still asking for it, then Brant has not conveyed Virgil's description well. Virgil describes them prostrate, listening to a voice coming from the shrine, which should have its doors flung open (Vix ea fātus eram: tremere omnia vīsa repente, līminaque laurusque deī, tōtusque movērī mōns circum et mūgīre adytīs cortīna reclūsīs. Summissī petimus terram et vōx fertur ad aurīs 90-3). Aeneas's ships can be seen on the far side on the island (78-9). (Katy Purington)

Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 187v, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.

At the top left of the image, one of Aeneas's men digs a trench to begin founding a new city (16-8); the ship sitting in the harbor in the lower left shows that they have just arrived at this place. In the bottom right, a priest and an attendant prepare a sacrifice to Venus at an altar (19-21). Behind them, Aeneas is on one knee beside a stand of trees that turn out to be spears. He has already pulled up two spear shafts, and holds a third in his hand, and looks a bit surprised, as though the voice of Polydorus has begun to speak (22-46). In the middle of the image, Polydorus is shown lying dead with two women standing over him, a detail picked out from lines 62-8, in which the Trojans give Polydorus a proper burial (Ergō īnstaurāmus Polydōrō fūnus, et ingēns/ aggeritur tumulō tellūs; stant Mānibus ārae/ caeruleīs maestae vittīs ātrāque cupressō,/ et circum Īliades crīnem dē mōre solūtae). The city in the background is the home of the Thracian king (50-1); Virgil does not give it a name.

Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 185r, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.

On the right is a small hill labeled Mount Ida, and at the top of the image, Troy and Antandros stand next to each other. The city of Antandros is supposed to be across the mountain from Troy (5-6). Aeneas stands in front of the mountain surrounded by fellow refugees holding shipbuilding tools, directing them in the building of a fleet. So far, one ship is almost built, with one piece left to put on it, and sailors inside it ready to sail off. The other is still a pile of lumber. Behind Aeneas, Anchises urges the people to ready the fleet to sail once the summer has arrived (8-9). (Katy Purington)

Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 183v, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.

On the right, Ulysses and Phoenix stand in the sanctuary of Juno guarding their spoils, which include golden bowls, armor or clothing, and a woman and child (761-6). In the center, Aeneas looks up at Creusa who appears above the city wall and speaks to him (771-89). There is virtually no emotion expressed by either Aeneas or Creusa in the image, despite Virgil's decription of Creusa crying and Aeneas trying to hug the shade of his wife (790-4). On the left, Anchises sits with two other refugees. The baby figure holding a pennant next to Anchises' leg must be Brant's representation of the Penates. (Katy Purington)

Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 181v, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.

Aeneas holds the hand of Ascanius and carries Anchises on his shoulders (707-10; 721-3) as they walk away from the city. Anchises carries the Penates (717), represented by an odd looking miniature bust. Behind Aeneas, Creusa stands with two attendants, not yet lost in the crowd, but standing far enough away from her husband to foreshadow the separation that happens in lines 730-46. Troy continues to burn in the background. (Katy Purington)

Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 180r, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.

On the right side of the image, Aeneas, Creusa, Ascanius and a few servants stand next to a seated Anchises and attempt to persuade him to flee Troy with them (651-54). On the left lie Polites and headless Priam, pitiful reminders of what will happen to the family of Aeneas if they stay; Aeneas mentions the king and his son while begging his own father not to stay behind. In the upper right corner, a storm cloud and a shooting star signify that Anchises has agreed to leave his home (692-4). In the upper left, Troy continues to burn. (Katy Purington)

Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 178r, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.

In the top half of the image, Helen [Elena] sits near the altar in the temple of Vesta (567-9). To her left, Aeneas stands ready to charge at her, but Venus stands at his shoulder and shows him that the war is not the fault of Helen but of the gods. In each of the four corners a god is represented: in the lower left, Neptune shakes the walls and foundations of the city (610-2); in the lower right, Juno calls to a ship of Greek soldiers (612-4); in the upper right, Pallas Athena stands inside a storm cloud with light radiating from her (615-6); in the top left, the hand of Zeus shoots fire, apparently a visual representation of the courage which he gives the Greeks (617-8). To the right of Helen, a tower falls; to the left of Venus, Trojans jump from a flaming tower. (Katy Purington)

Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 176r, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.

On the right side of the image, old king Priam chases Pyrrhus (Neoptolemus) with his spear (544-5); the awkward angle makes it look as though Priam has stabbed Pyrrhus in the neck, but this is not the case. On the left, Priam lies on his back, and Pyrrhus holds the king's head up by holding his hair in his left hand; he aims his sword at the king's shoulder, about to stab him (549-53). Polites, the son of Priam whom Pyrrhus killed earlier in lines 526-32, lies nearby. To the left of the slaughter, stands a group of people, mainly the wife and daughters of Priam. The man standing with them might be Aeneas. The slaughter happens near an altar that stands next to a laurel tree in an inner courtyard in the palace (512-4); Brant portrays it as a large Christian altar sitting awkwardly next to a tree in the middle of an open grassy area. In the top right corner, the citadel burns; at the bottom of the image is the outer wall of the city. (Katy Purington)

Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 174v, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.

This image is a jumble of battle scenes. In the middle left, Greeks roll a ladder up to the wall of the Trojan fortress (442-3), while nearby Pyrrhus, closely followed by Automedon and Periphas, takes an axe to the doors of the citadel (479-82). Aeneas stands at the top of a tower in the top left of the image; from the tower, while the Trojans standing around him shoot darts, he pushes the top of a nearby tower down at the soldiers fighting below (458-468). (Katy Purington)

Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 172v, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.

The Trojans try to rescue Cassandra. Cassandra is in the middle of the illustration with her hands tied in front of her (406) and her hair streaming (403-4). A crown, signifying that she is a princess, lies in front of her. Cassandra has been taken from the temple of Minerva, which is pictured in the top right corner (404); she is supposed to lift up her eyes in the direction of the temple (405-6), but instead she looks forward. To the right of her, soldiers, presumably Greek, march behind her, while immediately to her left and directly below her, two soldiers drag her along by her hair (403-4). The soldier beside her looks to his left in surprise, as Coroebus [Corebus] charges with his spear (407-8). Behind Coroebus, at the top left, stand Achates and Aeneas in a small cluster of Trojan soldiers about to follow Coroebus in the fighting (409). At the bottom, Menelaus fights Iphitus [Ipitus] on the right, while Ajax to the right and Agamemnon, accompanied by an attendant, to the left, attack a Trojan warrior (414-5, 434-6). (Katy Purington)

Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 171v, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.