DS9 & The Aeneid - Is Sisko Aeneas?
So I'm currently rewatching S7 of DS9 while also reading Virgil's Aeneid, and I'm struck by huge parallels between Sisko and Aeneas.
For anyone unfamiliar with the Aeneid, it's the Roman epic that tells the story of Aeneas, who leads a fleet of refugees from the sacked city of Troy to Italy, where he's been told by the gods that he's destined to start a new civilization that will eventually become Rome. In modern terms, it's a prequel to the Roman origin story of Romulus & Remus, and a kind of retcon of Homer.
Parallels:
- Both Aeneas and Sisko are sons of a human father and a goddess/ prophet mother (Venus in Aeneas's case).
- Both are widowers who lost their wife during the traumatic event that opens their story (the fall of Troy; Wolf 359).
- Both have strong relationships to their father (Anchises, Joseph) and only son (Ascanius, Jake).
- Both mother figures (Venus and Prophet-Sarah) are cold, ambiguous figures. There's not much evidence of maternal affection as humans would see it.
- Both are inspirational leaders to those serving under them, and both take their duties very seriously to their people and family.
- Both are forced by the gods / prophets to choose between love and destiny. Aeneas and Sisko are specifically told that they cannot be with their love (Dido and Kassidy), as their special destiny comes first.
And now the big difference - when Aeneas is told by the gods to leave Dido and sail to Italy, he obeys. He follows his destiny above his heart.
Sisko is given the same ultimatum and refuses to make that choice. He will not give up his autonomy or his love.
In some ways, thinking along these lines has helped me enjoy DS9 in a different way. There are many elements of the prophets / Pah wraiths storyline that doesn't really work as SF, but if you see it as a kind of Graeco-Roman epic, it makes more sense.
I have no idea if any of this was intended by the DS9 writers, or if it's just coincidence, but anyway I hope people might find it interesting!