The hero of Virgil's Aeneid, the Trojan warrior Aeneas, departs from the Trojan War and wanders for seven years in the Mediterranean region because it has been foretold that he and what remain of his people are destined to found a great nation in Italy. He stays briefly in the North African city of Carthage, but his abruptly ended love affair with Queen Dido eventually leads to her suicide. Later, Aeneas travels to Italy where he defeats King Turnus and establishes a settlement along the Tiber River that eventually grows into the city of Rome. Th&Aeneid is a mythological glorification of the early Roman Empire and of Octavian, the emperor known as Augustus.

A Irish epic tale from the first century BC, The Cattle Raid of Cooley describes an attack by Queen Mebd of Connacht on the kingdom of...