Virgil's Aeneid: Plot Summary, Structure, and Context

Virgil's Aeneid: The Foundation of Roman Epic

The Aeneid is a monumental poem structured into 12 books (songs) and nearly ten thousand verses. It is based on the destruction of Troy by the Greeks and the subsequent journey of Aeneas, leader of the Trojans, to Italy, where he founded a new homeland.

Literary Inspiration and Structure

Virgil's Aeneid is heavily inspired by Homer's Odyssey and the Iliad. The work is generally divided into two major parts:

• Part I (Books 1–6): Narrates Aeneas's navigation and travels from Troy to Sicily.
• Part II (Books 7–12): Details the subsequent struggles with the indigenous peoples of Italy to secure the new homeland.

The Journey of Aeneas: Key Plot Points

The work does not follow a chronological order, beginning in medias res with Aeneas's attempts to reach the Italian coast. He lands near Sicily, where his father, Anchises, had died. Because of a storm caused by the goddess Juno, the sea leads him to Carthage, where he is hosted by Queen Dido.

Books I–VI: Travel and Tragedy

• Book II: The Fall of Troy
  This book explains the famous episode of the wooden Trojan Horse and the destruction of Aeneas's city.
• Book III: The Narrative Begins
  Aeneas tells Queen Dido everything that has happened since he left Troy.
• Book IV: Dido's Tragedy
  Dido and Aeneas fell in love, and Aeneas lived in Carthage for a year. This book, often considered the most romantic, narrates their affair. Aeneas was warned by the gods that he must continue his journey to found a new home. He abandoned Dido, who subsequently committed suicide.
• Book V: Honoring Anchises
  Aeneas returns to Sicily to honor his father's grave.
• Book VI: Descent to the Underworld
  Aeneas is accompanied by the Cumaean Sibyl on a descent into the Underworld to find his father, Anchises. Anchises shows Aeneas the future fate and glory of Rome.

Books VII–XII: War in Italy

The second half of the poem focuses on combat. Aeneas fights the indigenous peoples (the aborigines) of Italy, aided by King Latinus, who has offered the hand of his daughter, Lavinia. This caused a war between Aeneas and Turnus, Lavinia's primary suitor. The poem ends dramatically with the death of Turnus.

Virgil, Augustus, and Publication

Emperor Augustus closely followed the composition of the Aeneid. When Virgil returned to Rome, he read the three books he had already written. After 12 years, the poem was almost finished. Virgil wanted to travel to Greece to complete it, but during the trip, he fell ill. Augustus persuaded him to return to Rome. Virgil died at a stop in Brundisium (Brindisi) in 19 BC.

Virgil famously requested that the Aeneid be burned, believing it incomplete. Augustus did not grant this request and ordered that the poem be published without further editing, thus preserving some incomplete lines.