Aeneid, << ih NEE ihd, >> the national epic of ancient Rome, is one of the world’s greatest poems of heroic adventure. It was written by the Roman poet Virgil between 30 and 19 B.C. This period was one of national pride for the Romans. The emperor Augustus had just united the people of the Italian peninsula to defeat Rome’s enemies in the eastern provinces. Virgil chose the myth of the Trojan hero Aeneas to express ancient Rome’s moral and religious values and to honor Augustus, who was believed to be Aeneas’ descendant.
The Aeneid contains 12 books. The first six books imitate the Greek epic the Odyssey. They describe Aeneas’ adventures at sea following the capture of Troy by the Greeks during the Trojan War.
As the Aeneid begins, a storm shipwrecks Aeneas and his Trojan followers near Carthage in North Africa. There, Aeneas falls in love with the queen, Dido. But the gods order him to leave for Italy. In despair, Dido commits suicide. After Aeneas finally reaches Italy, he goes down to the underworld and learns about his future descendants, the Romans.
Virgil bases the last six books of the Aeneid on the Greek epic the Iliad. They begin as Aeneas arrives near the future site of Rome. There, the local king, Latinus, offers him land for his people and marriage to his daughter, Lavinia. Turnus, Lavinia’s jealous suitor, attacks the Trojans and kills the young soldier Pallas, whom Aeneas has promised to protect. Aeneas later fights Turnus and kills him in punishment for the death of Pallas.
Aeneas’ obedience to the gods costs him his personal happiness and the lives of those he loves. Yet he retains his sense of duty and commitment to creating a new nation in an unknown land.
