The Aeneid

The Aeneid was a literary epic written by Vergil. The Roman people as their national epic quickly accepted the Aeneid. Vergil’s greatest influence was Homer. The Aeneid is about the Trojan hero Aeneas traveling to eventually start the Roman Empire. After the fall of Troy, Aeneas sail for Italy where him and his followers will settle and eventually establish a colony that will one day become Rome. While on route a storm drives his sh…

…al in order for men to achieve happiness and the good life. Vergil made a hero who was at one and the same time Homeric and Roman and also ancient and modern. This poem is not really concerned with the life and adventures of Aeneas but with the part he played in founding the Roman state and with the way he embodies the most important Roman personal qualities and attributes, particularly duty and responsibility.