Aeneid

The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem by the poet Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro). Composed in the late 1st century BCE and published around 19 BCE, it is Virgil’s longest work and a foundational text of Roman literature. The poem follows Aeneas, a Trojan refugee who travels from the fallen city of Troy to Italy and, in the Roman tradition, becomes an ancestor of the founders of Rome.

The work consists of 12 books written in dactylic hexameter and is modeled on Homeric epic technique. Books 1–6 recount Aeneas’s wanderings after the fall of Troy, his alliance with various peoples, and his visit to the underworld. Books 7–12 narrate the struggles in Italy, including the alliance with the Latins, the battles against local tribes, and the duel between Aeneas and Turnus, culminating in the establishment of a settlement that will become Rome.

Central themes include pietas (duty to the gods, family, and fate), the tension between personal desire and public obligation, and the legitimization of Roman imperial destiny under divine sanction. The gods intervene in human affairs, and the poem interweaves personal courage with the larger project of nation-building and fate.

Publication and influence: tradition says Virgil wished the manuscript burned, but Augustus reportedly prevailed on its publication after Virgil’s death. Since antiquity, the Aeneid has been a central text in Latin education and a major influence on Western literature. It shaped later epic poetry and prompted extensive scholarly and literary engagement.

Legacy: the Aeneid has inspired writers from Dante to Milton and continues to be a key point of reference in studies of epic, Roman history, and classical mythology.