The Aeneid by Virgil
Virgil penned the Aeneid to honour the emperor Augustus by glorifying his legendary ancestor Aeneas following a century of political unrest in Rome and Italy. The Aeneid aimed to give Rome literature on par with that of Greece as a patriotic epic that imitated Homer. It describes Aeneas, a Troy sack survivor, and his seven-year trip to Carthage, where he tragically falls in love with Queen Dido. From there, he travels to the underworld until arriving in Italy, where he founds Rome. Tennyson praised it as “the stateliest measure yet shaped by the lips of man” and described it as a tale of defeat and exile, of love and battle.
The Aeneid by Virgil
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The epic poem The Aeneid by Virgil tells the story of the Trojans, who fled their ruined country and created Rome. The first six novels are titled “Odyssin,” and in them, Aeneas has experiences that are very similar to those that Odysseus had in “The Odyssey”—he even runs into some of the same characters! Iliadic and replete with battle scenes, the second half of the book. You will enjoy The Aeneid if you are familiar with The Iliad and the Odyssey. It is interesting to learn how the Trojans survived the conflict.
The book is filled with themes like “pietas” and “fatum,” which inspire Aeneas to exact revenge on his people and play a significant role in the establishment of what is arguably the largest empire in recorded history.
