Virgil
Roman poet who composed the Aeneid linking Rome's founding to the Trojan War through Aeneas's journey
The Meaning of Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 BCE) was the greatest Roman poet, whose Aeneid — an epic in twelve books narrating the Trojan hero Aeneas's journey to Italy and the legendary founding of Rome — became the national epic of the Roman Empire. Virgil masterfully interwove Greek mythological traditions with Roman destiny: Aeneas carries his father from burning Troy, descends to the underworld to learn Rome's future, and wages war in Latium to establish the lineage that will produce Romulus and ultimately Augustus. His earlier works, the Eclogues and Georgics, also draw deeply on Greek myth. Virgil died before completing final revisions to the Aeneid and reportedly asked for it to be burned — Augustus overruled the request.
Parents
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
Virgil asked on his deathbed for the Aeneid to be burned, but Augustus saved the poem for posterity
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Aeneid
💭 conceptLiterature
Virgil's epic poem following the Trojan hero Aeneas from the fall of Troy to the founding of Rome
Ovid
💭 conceptPoetry, transformation, love
Roman poet whose Metamorphoses became the most influential retelling of Greek myth in Western culture
Nonnus
💭 conceptEpic poetry, Dionysus
Late antique poet who composed the Dionysiaca, the longest surviving epic poem from Greco-Roman antiquity
Theogony
💭 conceptLiterature
Hesiod's epic poem describing the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods
Homer
💭 conceptEpic poetry, Troy, Odyssey
Legendary blind poet credited with composing the Iliad and the Odyssey
Hesiod
💭 conceptDidactic poetry, cosmogony
Boeotian poet who composed the Theogony and Works and Days in the archaic period
Iliad
💭 conceptLiterature
Homer's epic poem recounting the wrath of Achilles during the final year of the Trojan War
Dionysiaca
💭 conceptLiterature
Nonnus's sprawling epic poem narrating the life and conquests of the god Dionysus in forty-eight books
Argonautica
💭 conceptLiterature
Apollonius of Rhodes' epic poem narrating Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece
Apollonius of Rhodes
💭 conceptEpic poetry, Argonauts
Hellenistic poet who composed the Argonautica, the epic of Jason and the Golden Fleece
Theban Cycle
💭 conceptepic, dynasty
The cycle of myths surrounding the cursed royal house of Thebes, from Cadmus's founding through Oedipus's tragedy to the war of the Seven and their sons.
Epic
💭 conceptLanguage and literature
An English adjective meaning grand in scale or heroic, derived from the Greek epos meaning word or speech, referring to the tradition of long narrative poems about heroes and gods