Aeneid(summary)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Publius Vergilius Maro
Composer of Aeneid
Main Characters
A list of the main
characters in The Aeneid
Summary
A full book summary.
The reality
Who actually founded
ancient Rome? The truth
behind the myth.
01 02
03 Summary
A full book summary
04
01 Publius Vergilius Maro
Composer of Aeneid
02 Main Characters
A list of the main characters in the
Aeneid
04 The reality
Who actually founded ancient Rome?
The truth behind the myth.

01
● Publius Vergilius Maro (Virgil):
- Ancient Roman poet of the Augustan
period.
- Composer of the most famous poems in
Latin:
Eclogues, Georgics and the epic Aeneid.
●

01
● The poem consists of 12 books
describing the journey of Aeneas,
a warrior fleeing the sack of Troy
to Italy.
● Aeneid: national epic poem of
ancient Rome, considered Virgil's
finest work.

Main Characters
02
Aeneas Dido Turnus
Anchises Ascanius

Main Characters
02
Protagonist of the Aeneid, survivor of the siege of Troy. He
respects the will of gods. He is destined to found the Roman
empire and supersede all obstacles in his mission.
Aeneas

Main Characters
02
Queen of Carthage, lover of Aeneas, left Tyre
after her husband’s murder. Although she is
strong, her love for Aeneas is her downfall.
After Aeneas’ abandonment she kills herself
with his sword.
Dido

Main Characters
02
Ruler of the Rutulians. Aeneas’s major antagonist among
mortals. Tough and fearless, capable soldier who values
his honor over his life.
Turnus

Anchises
Aeneas’s father, symbol of his Trojan heritage.
Although he dies during the journey from Troy to Italy, he
continues in spirit to help his son fulfill fate’s decrees (guiding
Aeneas through the underworld and showing him what fate has
in store for his descendants).
Main Characters
02

Ascanius
Aeneas’s young son by his first wife, Creusa, an
important symbol of Aeneas’s destiny. Though still a
child, Ascanius displays his bravery and leadership.
Main Characters
02

►On the Mediterranean Sea, Aeneas
and his fellow Trojans flee from their
home city of Troy, which has been
destroyed by the Greeks. They sail for
Italy, where Aeneas is destined to found
Rome.
►As they approach their destination, a
fierce storm throws them off course and
lands them in Carthage.
03
Summary

►Dido, Carthage’s founder and queen,
welcomes them. Aeneas describes his
long and painful story.
►Aeneas tells of the sack of Troy after
ten years of Greek siege, as the Trojans
were tricked by accepting within the
city walls a wooden horse -in its hollow
belly several Greek soldiers were
hidden.
03
Summary

►He narrates how he escaped
the burning city with his father,
Anchises and his son Ascanius.
►He sets sail with a fleet
containing the surviving citizens
of Troy.
03
Summary

►Aeneas describes the difficulties of
their journey. Twice they attempted to
build a new city, only to be driven
away by (bad omens, harpies, etc).
►Finally, after the loss of Anchises
and a bout of terrible weather, they
made their way to Carthage.
03
Summary

►Impressed by Aeneas’s
exploits and sympathetic to his
suffering, Dido falls in love with
Aeneas.
►They live together as lovers
until the gods remind Aeneas of
his duty to found a new city.
03
Summary

►He sets sails once again.
►Dido, devastated by his
departure kills herself, climbing
in a huge pyre built, with
Aeneas’s castaway possessions,
with his own sword.
03
Summary

►During their travel to Italy,
bad weather blows them to
Sicily, where they bury
Anchises.
►The women, tired of the
voyage, begin to burn the
ships, but a downpour of
rain puts the fires out.
03
Summary

►The travel-weary stay behind,
while Aeneas continues his voyage
to Italy with the rest of his
company.
►Once there, Aeneas descends into
the underworld to visit his father
who shows him a glimpse of the
future history.
03
Summary

►The arrival of the Trojans in
Italy is peaceful. King Latinus, the
Italian ruler, extends his
hospitality, hoping that Aeneas,
according to a prophecy, will
marry his daughter Lavinia.
►He returns from the underworld,
and they continue up the coast to
the region of Latium.
03
Summary

►Latinus’s wife, Amata, has other
ideas and wants her daughter to
marry Turnus. Amata and Turnus
create enmity toward the newly
arrived Trojans.
►After an incident involving
Ascanius, a war begins. Aeneas sails
north up the Tiber to seek military
support.
03
Summary

►A truce is decided to bury their
dead.
►While the Trojan leader is away,
Turnus attacks. Aeneas returns to
find his countrymen embroiled in
battle and many others are killed.
03
Summary

►The Latin leaders decide to
stop the battle to avoid more
death by proposing a duel
between Aeneas and Turnus.
►They face each other and
Aeneas is wounded in the thigh,
but eventually he kills Turnus.
03
Summary

♦ The exact origins of Rome are still a
mystery. There are several theories
based on the writings of ancient authors
and archaeological discoveries. The
founding of Rome is based mainly on
legend and myth, instead of solid facts
and figures.
04
The reality

♦ The main myth is that of Romulus
and his twin brother, Remus,
founded Rome on the location
where they were suckled by a she-
wolf as orphaned infants. When they
became adults, they established a
city there.
04
The reality

♦ The brothers quarrelled
and Remus was killed by
his brother leaving
Romulus the sole founder
of the city, giving his name
to it.
04
The reality

♦ The Historians’ point of view is
different. The period actually begins,
when the Greeks and the Etruscans
came and settled in the Italian
peninsula.
♦ At the same time that the Greek
world began to spread to the West, in
central Italy one of the Italian tribes -
later known as Romans - founded a
city near the Tiber River (753 BC).
04
The reality

♦ Rome emerged as a great power in
the Italian peninsula and later in the
entire Mediterranean.
♦ The strict social structure combined
with the political organization and the
creation of a strong national army was
the main factors of promotion and
gradual dominance of the Romans
until the 3rd century BC.
04
The reality

04
The reality
A city is founded and it is going to become
the center of the ancient world.

Aeneid(summary)

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