Why Does Juno Hate The Trojans Analysis

Question B. (Why does Juno hate the Trojans?)
Historically, Juno’s reasoning for hating the Trojans stems from the Punic Wars, which Juno knows will one day serve to “overturn her Tyrian fortress” (1.20)—that is, she knows that Carthage, her favored city, is destined to win the Punic Wars in the future. She hopes to stop Aeneas’s journey because she knows that he will be the one to found Rome, setting in motion the destruction of Carthage. This begins the theme of Juno’s attempts to defy fate, which runs throughout the poem. Two additional factors fueling Juno’s hatred of Troy stem from mythology: “One was the Judgement of Paris that bypassed, insulted her beauty. / Hate for Troy eviled her eye. Add Ganymede, raped and exalted.” (1.27-28) The Judgement of Paris was a contest between Minerva, Venus and Juno for the title of the

Only the timely intervention of Neptune saves Aeneas, and he and his men land in Carthage. Juno’s next plan involves taking advantage of Cupid’s love spell on Dido; she tries to get Venus to agree to a marriage between the two, hoping to take advantage of Dido’s affection and keep Aeneas in Carthage. “Where will you stop, how far will you go in your wild competition? Why not, instead, work together, for endless peace and a marriage / Sealing it?” (4.98-99) Ultimately, after Jupiter forbids her and Venus from interfering in mortal affairs any longer, Juno entreats Juturna, the sister of Aeneas’s enemy Turnus, to act on Juno’s behalf and save her brother. “You, if you’re daring enough to bring critical help to your brother, / Go on. You should. Something better, perhaps, will ensue from your anguish.” (12.152-153) This attempt fails as well, and Juno is only placated when Jupiter promises that the Latins will subsume the Trojans in the