<P> The concept of a character narrating a story within the current story, providing subsequent layers, is seen in both the Aeneid and the Odyssey, more specifically the story of the heroes' journey up until that point in time, since both epics start in medias res, in the middle of things . With the story of Odysseus, the Greek washes up on the shores of Scheria, the land of the Phaeacians, whom hospitably take Odysseus in and ask him how he has come to their land . Odysseus spends Books IX through XII recounting his journey from Troy to where he was presently . In Aeneas' case, upon arrival in Carthage, Dido asked Aeneas to share his story, so Books II and III were narrating the fall of Troy and how Aeneas and his people arrived at Carthage . </P> <P> The ultimate purpose of both Aeneas and Odysseus is returning home, or in Aeneas' case, founding a new home . Both heroes sail over the same sea, sometimes visiting the same locations and experiencing the same difficulties . In Book III of the Aeneid, Aeneas and his men come close to Scylla and Charybdis, as Odysseus and his men do in Book XII of the Odyssey, followed by the Trojans landing on the island of the Cyclopes, as Aeneas does in Book IV . Aeneas' crew had the fortune of not having the same fate as some in Odysseus' crew . Virgil also included an emaciated Greek named Achaemenides, who had sailed with Odysseus but had been left behind . The two heroes also make a katabasis into the Underworld to retrieve information from the deceased . </P> <P> Upon arrival in Ithaca, Odysseus is met with suitors in his home, destroying it and trying to win his wife, Penelope's hand . Odysseus proceeds to fight off these suitors, killing them so he can have his home back . Similarly, Aeneas is supposed to found his home in Latium and marry the princess Lavinia, where he is met with the army of Turnus, who was the king of Rutuli and Lavinia's leading suitor before Aeneas came along . Aeneas has to engage in a battle before he can finally rest in his newfound home . </P>

In what ways is aeneas a classical hero