Reading Order
The Aeneid Reading Order
The Aeneid (c. 29-19 BCE) by Virgil is the foundational epic of Rome — the poem that tells the story of Aeneas, a Trojan hero who survives the fall of Troy and travels to Italy to found the line that will produce Romulus and Remus and, eventually, Rome. Virgil wrote the Aeneid at the command (or at least with the patronage) of the Emperor Augustus, who needed a founding epic to give his regime the same mythological authority that Homer's epics gave to Greece; and the poem is simultaneously a sincere celebration of Roman virtues (pietas, duty, the destiny of Rome) and a deeply ambivalent investigation of the cost of those virtues. The Aeneid is organized in twelve books that fall into two halves: the first six (often called 'the Virgilian Odyssey') follow Aeneas from the fall of Troy through his affair with Dido (Queen of Carthage, who kills herself when Aeneas leaves), his journey to the underworld (where he meets his father Anchises and sees the future of Rome), and his arrival in Italy; the second six (often called 'the Virgilian Iliad') follow the war in Latium that Aeneas must win to found his new city. The poem ends with Aeneas killing his enemy Turnus in fury — an ending that has troubled readers for two thousand years, because it seems to undercut the pietas that the poem has been celebrating.
Where to start
The Aeneid (c. 19 BCE) — the complete twelve-book poem in a good modern translation. Robert Fagles (Penguin, 2006) and Sarah Ruden (Yale, 2008) are the best current translations; Frederick Ahl (Oxford, 2007) is excellent for scholarly purposes; W.F. Jackson Knight's prose translation (Penguin) is still useful. Best Virgil reading order: The Eclogues → The Georgics → The Aeneid.
Complete The Aeneid Book List
- 1Buy
The Aeneid
Virgil·-19·The complete twelve-book poem — Aeneas, Dido, Anchises, Turnus, and the founding of Rome. Robert Fagles's translation (Penguin, 2006) is the most readable modern verse translation; Frederick Ahl's translation (Oxford World's Classics, 2007) is more literal and better for scholarly purposes - 2Buy
The Iliad
Homer·-750·Homer's companion — the Trojan War that precedes the Aeneid. The companion as the primary predecessor: Virgil wrote the Aeneid in explicit and sustained dialogue with the Iliad, using the same epic conventions and beginning his poem at the point where Homer's Iliad is the backstory — Aeneas is a minor character in the Iliad who survives because his destiny is to found Rome - 3Buy
The Odyssey
Homer·-720·Homer's companion — the journey home. The companion as the primary predecessor of the first six books: the first six books of the Aeneid are Virgil's Odyssey (Aeneas's wandering journey from Troy to Italy), and the second six are his Iliad (the war in Latium) - 4Buy
Paradise Lost
John Milton·1667·Milton's companion — the Fall of Man. The companion as the primary English epic in dialogue with Virgil: Milton wrote Paradise Lost in explicit conversation with the Aeneid, using the same epic conventions (the in medias res opening, the descent to Hell, the epic similes) and transforming them for the Christian subject matter - 5Buy
The Divine Comedy
Dante Alighieri·1320·Dante's companion — the journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. The companion as the medieval epic in sustained dialogue with Virgil: Dante chooses Virgil as his guide through Hell and Purgatory because the Aeneid — particularly Aeneas's visit to the underworld in Book Six — is the primary predecessor of Dante's journey - 6Buy
The Eclogues
Virgil·-37·Virgil's companion pastoral poems. The companion as the predecessor: Virgil wrote the Eclogues and Georgics before the Aeneid, and reading them illuminates the range of his poetic achievement and the development of his vision from pastoral and agricultural to epic and imperial - 7Buy
The Georgics
Virgil·-29·Virgil's companion — the poem about farming and bees. The companion as the intermediate work: the Georgics is the most technically perfect of Virgil's poems, and reading it between the Eclogues and the Aeneid illuminates the development of his vision - 8Buy
Metamorphoses
Ovid·8·Ovid's companion — the transformations of myth. The companion as the Roman alternative: where Virgil's Aeneid is the epic of Roman duty and destiny, Ovid's Metamorphoses is the epic of erotic passion and transformation — together they represent the two poles of the Augustan literary achievement
The Aeneid — Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Aeneid about?
The Aeneid is about Aeneas, a Trojan hero who survives the fall of Troy and travels to Italy to found the line that will produce Rome. The poem opens in medias res with Aeneas's fleet caught in a storm engineered by the goddess Juno, who hates the Trojans. The first six books follow Aeneas from Troy through his time in Carthage (where he has an affair with the Carthaginian queen Dido, who kills herself when he leaves on the orders of the gods), his visit to the underworld (where his father Anchises shows him the future of Rome), and his arrival in Italy. The second six books follow the war in Latium between Aeneas and the Italian leader Turnus for the hand of the princess Lavinia and the right to found a new city. The poem ends with Aeneas killing Turnus in fury — an ending that has troubled readers for two thousand years.
Who is Dido in the Aeneid?
Dido is the Queen of Carthage and the most memorable figure in the Aeneid — a widowed queen who has fled her homeland and founded a new city with extraordinary energy and intelligence. When Aeneas's fleet arrives in Carthage, Dido receives him and his companions with hospitality and falls in love with him (partly engineered by Venus and Cupid). Their affair is described in Book Four, which is the most intensely personal and most emotionally immediate book in the poem. When Aeneas is reminded by the gods that his destiny is in Italy and not in Carthage, he prepares to leave without telling Dido; she confronts him, and he gives the Augustan answer — his duty to his son Ascanius, to his father's instructions, to the gods, to Rome — which is entirely correct and entirely cold. Dido kills herself on a pyre as his fleet sails away. The episode has troubled readers since the poem's first appearance: Virgil gives Dido's perspective such force and sympathy that many readers, from the Middle Ages to the present, have concluded that Aeneas makes the wrong choice.
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