by Virgil

Publius Maro Vergilius, now known simply as Virgil, was born in 70 B.C. near Mantua in northern Italy. Virgil lived during the collapse of the Roman Republic and the subsequent rise of the Roman Empire under Octavius Augustus Caesar. Virgil's poem harkens back to an idealized time in the region's history prior to the founding of Rome.

Events in History at the Time the Poem Takes Place

The city of Troy. The Aeneid tells the story of how Troy is destroyed by a Greek army and what happens to the Trojan inhabitants after the city's fall. Virgil's hero, Aeneas, is one of the Trojans who manages to escape. Although Virgil's story is based mainly on legends, the ruins of a city believed to be Troy were discovered in the late 1800s and are still being excavated today. These ruins are located in the northwest corner of...