Aeneid

Aeneid, national epic by Roman poet Virgil, composed between 30 and 19 bc. This article summarizes the plot of the epic poem; for an assessment of its literary importance, see Virgil: The Aeneid. The poem describes the odyssey of its hero Aeneas and the Trojans, their arrival in Italy, and their victory over the Latins and Rutulians. The divine machinery governing the actions of the poem’s characters centers chiefly in the hostility of Juno, queen of the gods, toward Aeneas and the aid given to Aeneas by his mother Venus, goddess of love and beauty.

The Aeneid is composed of 12 parts, called books. Book I begins by recounting the shipwreck of the Trojans off Carthage and their welcome by Dido, queen of the Carthaginians. In Books II and III Aeneas relates the story of the fall of the ancient city of Troy (see Trojan War) and his adventures on his westward journey, ending with the death of his father Anchises in Sicily. Book IV is set in Carthage and describes the love affair of Aeneas and Dido, Aeneas’s forced departure from Carthage to fulfill his mission, and Dido’s tragic suicide. In Book V, Aeneas stops in Sicily to honor the anniversary of his father's death with funeral games. He then continues to Italy where in Cumae he visits the underworld to consult Anchises concerning the future. In Book VI, still in the underworld, Aeneas sees the unborn souls of many later Roman heroes.

The second half of the Aeneid recounts the events after Aeneas's arrival in Latium. The basic theme is the rivalry between Aeneas and Turnus, king of the Rutulians, for the hand of Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus of Latium. In spite of initial peaceful negotiations with Latinus, war breaks out between the Trojans and the Latins (without Latinus, who chose not to get involved) in Book VII. Aeneas goes to the site of Rome and then to Etruria for allies in Book VIII, and Turnus’s attack of the Trojan camp during Aeneas’s absence is described in Book IX. The return to camp of Aeneas and his allies leads to the first great battle, recounted in Book X, in which Pallas, Lausus, Mezentius, and numerous other heroes are slain. A later cavalry battle, which takes place in Book XI, is marked by the death of the warrior maiden, Camilla.

The final book of the Aeneid, Book XII, begins by recounting the preliminary preparations for the combat between Turnus and Aeneas. It describes the wounding and recovery of Aeneas and tells of the hero’s final victory over Turnus, whom Aeneas would have spared but for Turnus's cruel treatment of the warrior Pallas. With the death of Turnus, the final obstacle to the marriage of Aeneas and Lavinia is removed, and the Latins and the Trojans will now unite to become the ancestors of the Roman people.