Parallels between Virgil's Aeneid and Homer's Iliad and Odyssey  When writing the "Aeneid", Virgil (or Vergil) drew from his studies on the Homeric epics of the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" to help him create a national epic poem for the Roman people. Virgil used several characteristics associated with epic poetry, more specifically Homer's epics, including the use of hexameter verse, book division, lists of genealogies and underlying themes to draw parallels between the Romans and their cultural predecessors, the Greeks. The second half of the "Aeneid", Books VI through XII, follow similarly to what happens throughout the "Iliad". Book VI of the "Aeneid" reveals a prophecy for Aeneas by the Sibyl of Cumae stating that a Latin-born Achilles, who is also the son of a goddess ("Aeneid", Book VI, lines 89–90), exists. There are many scholarly debates on who this Latin-born Achilles is, whether he is Aeneas, Turnus, or some other character, and if so, is the opponent symbolic of another character from the "Iliad"? If comparing Aeneas to Achilles and Turnus to Hector, several parallels can be drawn. One example is when Aeneas is absent from the battlefield, Turnus lays waste to the Trojan army, just as Hector did to the Greek army in the absence of Achilles. Just as Hector kills Patroclus, Turnus slaughters Pallas, and to avenge the deaths of their friends, both Achilles and Aeneas slay their opponents. Prophecies contribute a large theme among epics, especially that of the "Iliad", the "Odyssey" and the "Aeneid". From the beginning of the "Iliad", readers knew that the Greeks were fated to triumph over the Trojans, as was declared by the king of the gods, Zeus. Achilles' fate was also foretold; if he went to war he would die a hero. Similarly, Aeneas was told by the ghost of Hector in Book II that he was to leave burning Troy to found a new city. Throughout the rest of the epic, the gods include reminders that Aeneas is destined to find Italy and found Rome for future generations. Another thing Virgil replicates from the "Iliad" is the ekphrasis of Aeneas' shield.