Virgil's Aeneid

Join us for a fascinating journey through the epic poem The Aeneid – widely regarded as Virgil's masterpiece and one of the greatest works of Latin literature. It tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome. The Aeneid can be divided into halves based on the disparate subject matter of Books 1–6 (Aeneas' journey to Latium in Italy) and Books 7–12 (the war in Latium). In this study group, we will discuss why these two halves are commonly regarded as reflecting Virgil's ambition to rival Homer by treating both the Odyssey's wandering theme and the Iliad's warfare themes. We will also discuss how its depiction of the underworld influenced Dante's vision of The Inferno. Our text will be Virgil Aeneid, translation by Stanley Lombardo (Hackett Publishing, 2005). “Long a master of the crafts of Homeric translation, Stanley Lombardo now turns to the quintessential epic of Roman antiquity. He delivers a rendering of the Aeneid as compelling as his groundbreaking translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey.” The readings and related/supplementary materials will provide for robust conversation over the course of the semester.