The Aeneid Summary | Chapterly
The Aeneid by Virgil: A Complete Summary "Arms and the man I sing, who first from the shores of Troy, exiled by fate, came to Italy and Lavinian shores." Overview The Aeneid is Rome's national epic and one of the supreme achievements of world literature. Written by Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) between 29 and 19 BC, it tells the story of Aeneas, a Trojan prince who survives the destruction of Troy and journeys across the Mediterranean to found the civilization that will become Rome. Where Homer's heroes act from personal honor and rage, Aeneas is driven by pietas — duty to the gods, his family, and his destined people. This makes him a new kind of hero, one who subordinates personal desire to a larger purpose. The Aeneid is a poem about what it costs to build something that will outlast you, and whether that cost can ever be justified. Virgil died before completing his final revisions and reportedly asked that the manuscript be burned. Augustus overruled the request, and the poem has shaped Western literature for two thousand years. The Story The Fall of Troy and the Wanderings (Books 1-6) Aeneas and the surviving Trojans are driven across the...