Virgil (70 – 19 BC)(Ancient Literature)

 Virgil

(70 – 19 BC)

 Publius Vergilius Maro usually called Virgil or Vergil in English, was an ancient Roman Poet of the Augustan period.

 He is known for three major works of Latin Literature, The Eclogues, The Georges and the epic Aeneid.

 A minor number of poems are collected in the Appendix Virgiliana, are sometimes attributed to him.

 His “Aeneid” has been considered the national epic of Ancient Rome from the time of its composition to the present day.

 It is modeled after Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.

 Virgil’s work has had wide and deep influence on western literature most notably on Dante’s “Divine Comedy”, in which Virgil appears as Dante’s guide through hell and purgatory.

 After considering briefly, a career in Rhetoric and Law, the young Virgil turned his talents to poetry.

 He was nicknamed “Parlhenias” or “Maiden” because of his social aloofness.

 The Augustan poet Ovid parodies the opening lines of “Aeneid in Amores” and his summary of The Aeneid story in book 14 of the Metamorphosis the so-called Mini – Aeneid.

 Lucan’s epic The Bellum Olive has been considered an anti-Virgilian epic.

 “The Aeneid” an epic poem written between 29 and 19 BC tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan

who travelled to Italy where he became the ancestor of Romans. It comprises 9,896 lines in dactylic hexameter.