Cities on fire. Doomed love. Single combat and war with the gods.
Suddenly classical poetry sounds pretty good!
Like classical music, poetry from the ancient world can seem intimidating at first.
But poems like this were written for the average person. They’re packed with page-turning action and relatable emotion.
Ready to dip your intellectual toes into Roman poetry? In this post, I give you the Aeneid summary, point out its main themes, and explain why this ancient poem still matters today.
What Is the Aeneid?
The Aeneid is an epic poem.
Okay, what’s an epic poem?
Epic poetry is a genre that the ancient Greeks and Romans loved. This genre celebrated the extraordinary deeds of their ancestors in ultra-long poems.
Epic poems talk about historical events but they embellished them highly. They wanted to talk about the past in a way that would inspire the people of the present.
The Aeneid (which means “about Aeneas”) tells the legend of how Rome was founded. Aeneas was a Trojan who had to flee his city after the Spartans destroyed it in the Trojan War.
But Aeneas doesn’t lay down and accept defeat. Through trials and adventures, he battles his way to victory and finally establishes Rome.
You might get the Aeneid confused with two other epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey.
These two poems were written by the poet Homer about 1,000 years before Virgil lived. They also cover the events of the Trojan War, but from the Spartan perspective.
Why Did Virgil Write The Aeneid?
By around 70 BCE, when Virgil lived, Rome had problems.
The once-strong nation was plagued by infighting and rivalry. It looked like these political problems might cause Rome to crumble from within.
The emperor Augustus knew that Rome was in trouble, so he decided to deploy a powerful weapon: poetry.
Augustus turned to the famous poet Virgil (also known as Vergil, or Virgilius) and asked him to write an epic story that could unite Rome and bring peace to the nation.
When you read this summary of the Aeneid, keep in mind that Virgil didn’t set out to write a factual history of Rome.
Instead, he wrote a story to fit the nation he loved, to remind the warring Romans of what made their country unique, powerful, and worth fighting for. He came up with one of the best epic poems of all time.
Let’s dive in.
The Aeneid Summary
The ancient poets liked to begin their epic poems in media res, or “in the middle of things.”
Imagine a movie opening on a few boats tossed around in a howling storm, with dark waves threatening to drag them under. That’s how the Aeneid starts.
Virgil explains that the goddess Juno has caused the storm. She hates the Trojan hero Aeneas since a prophecy says that he will destroy her favorite city, Carthage.
Only a few pages in, we already know the main conflict: a hero has a destiny to fulfill, but the gods are against him. Will he be strong enough to fulfill his fate?
Refugees in Carthage
The storm drives Aeneas’s fleet south to the African coast of the Mediterranean sea. With some help from Aeneas’s goddess mother Venus, they eventually move inland and stumble into Carthage.
This city-state is ruled by a queen named Dido. She takes pity on them and invites them to stay.
(By the way, Dido gets a shoutout from the Bard in one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays, The Tempest.)
Dido has her own problems (including the fact that her scheming brother just murdered her husband) but the handsome hero Aeneas intrigues her.
When everyone sits down to a banquet that evening, Aeneas tells Queen Dido their backstory—the tragic fate of the city of Troy.
The Trojan War
A Trojan man named Paris seduced the Queen of Sparta, Helen. The lovers fled to Troy, causing the Spartans to retaliate with a ten-year-long war.
Tired of fighting, the Spartans came up with a sneaky plan: they pretended to surrender to Troy and offered a huge horse sculpture as a peace offering.
Then, they took their ships and retreated, hiding out of sight.
Aeneas tells Dido how the Trojans, blinded by pride in their “victory,” took the gigantic statue into the city.
The Trojan Horse story is a cautionary tale. It warns us that pride can blind us to obvious deceptions and leave us vulnerable to attack. But for Troy, this lesson came too late.
That night, Spartan soldiers leaped out of a secret hiding place in the huge statue.
By the time the Trojans knew what was happening, the Spartans had already taken the city, destroyed the temples, and murdered the king.
Aeneas escaped the city just in time, leading a ragtag band of survivors.
Searching for a Homeland
The survivors sailed around the Mediterranean in search of a new homeland. At every landfall, they received a supernatural sign that told them to keep moving.
Finally, they met a group of fellow Trojan refugees. A Trojan prophet told Aeneas that he has a divine destiny: he will establish a new city in the beautiful land of Hesperia (Italy), a city that would rule the whole world.
Virgil is hinting that the city of Rome (which did rule the entire known world) was more than an ordinary city. For him, it was a nation ordained by the gods.
Aeneas set off again with a new purpose, searching for this promised land. But before he could find Italy, Juno summoned the storm that began the story, and Aeneas was blown off course to Carthage.
The Tragedy of Dido
Back at the banquet, Aeneas’s story touches Dido’s heart.
She had sworn an oath to stay faithful to the memory of her assassinated husband. But Aeneas’s mother is the love goddess Venus, and to help her son get ahead, Venus causes Dido to fall in love with him.
The goddess Juno is scheming too. She makes a deal with Venus to make him stay in Carthage so that he will never fulfill the prophecy.
Before long, Aeneas and Dido are lovers, pushing Aeneas’s destiny of founding Rome to the back burner.
But the gods are not about to let Aeneas forget his mission. The god Mercury comes to remind him of his destiny.
A heartbroken Dido begs him to stay, but Aeneas refuses. Dido goes mad with grief and stabs herself to death. But the Trojan ships have already set sail, and Aeneas only sees Dido’s funeral pyre from a distance.
The Underworld
Aeneas fights through many more adventures on his way to the promised land.But before he can reach Italy, he has to go through one more trial: visiting the underworld.
First, Aeneas witnesses how the wicked are punished in Tartarus. He even sees Dido, whose suicide has condemned her to eternal sadness.
Then he moves on to the heavenly fields of Elysium.
He meets his father, who gives him a vision of Rome, and learns that his descendants (namely, Romulus and Remus) will found the great city.
His trip to the underworld gives Aeneas a deeper understanding of his mission. Returning to the land of the living, Aeneas is finally ready to lead his fleet to Italy.
Finding Italy
Aeneas lands in Italy and finds that it’s already populated. He hopes to arrive peacefully, and at first, things go well.
But Juno makes another attempt to destroy Aeneas’s success. She causes the Latin people to turn against Aeneas, and the situation breaks into an all-out war.
The Latin side is led by a warrior named Turnus, who Juno keeps inciting to fight dirty so that Aeneas can’t win.
More battles follow, with tragic deaths on both sides, like the Amazon warrior Camilla and Turnus’s friend Mezentius.
Finally, Aeneas is victorious. Turnus surrenders and begs for his life.
Aeneas sees that Turnus is wearing a trophy taken from Aeneas’s dead warrior Pallas. Enraged, he kills Turnus.
Wait, That’s the End?
The ending of the Aeneid feels abrupt. Virgil died before he could complete his epic work.
In fact, he left a note begging for his unfinished book to be burned, because he didn’t want the world to see the unedited version.
Themes in The Aeneid
When we read the Aeneid, what themes stand out?
Here are a few of the most important themes of the Aeneid. See if you can spot them when you read the poem!
Fate
Do we have any control over our own lives?
In the Aeneid, gods are constantly pushing humans around. Are human beings just helpless puppets for larger forces to use?
Virgil seems to say no.
Yes, Aeneas has lots of help (and opposition) from the gods. But he always has a choice about his fate—whether to give in or to keep fighting.
Prayer
Like other classical thinkers, Virgil believed societies function best when they respect the gods.
Throughout the Aeneid, characters pray to the gods for help, thank them for favors received, and consider them in their daily lives.
Violence vs Mercy
The Aeneid shows the struggle between two values: warlike power and mercy.
At times, Aeneas allows himself to be guided by mercy. After all, he survived the burning of Troy, and he knows how horrific war can be.
But at other times he uses force to overcome his enemies.
Virgil knew that Rome relied on violence to conquer other nations. But in the Aeneid he raises the question: can a wise ruler be merciful too?
Political Critique
Virgil writes the character of Aeneas as a figure of the emperor Augustus, implying that Augustus is the same heroic, divinely-appointed hero material as Rome’s founder.
He even includes Aeneas having visions of Rome in which his descendant Augustus brings peace to the nation.
But by making his protagonist flawed, Virgil subtly critiques Augustus as well.
Aeneas doesn’t always act heroically. He gets distracted from his quest and, at times, struggles to live up to his heroic calling.
Augustus was so eager to publish the poem that it’s safe to say he never noticed the subversive aspects. But the poem lives on long after Augustus’s death, still reminding us that heroes can be just as flawed as the rest of us.
Structure of The Aeneid
Epic poems are easier to read when you have a roadmap.
Here are the main features of the Aeneid that will help you navigate it:
- It’s made up of 12 books (which you can think of as chapters)
- The first 6 books cover Aeneas’s journey to Italy
- The final 6 books cover the battles in Italy
- The odd-numbered books are less dramatic
- The even-numbered books have more action
The Aeneid is a poem, after all, so the original Latin follows a strict rhythm: dactylic hexameter. This is the same complicated rhythm that Homer used in his poetry.
Best Translations of The Aeneid
Whenever you read a classic poem or book, getting a good translation is key.
Here are some of the most critically acclaimed translations of The Aeneid:
- Robert Fangles (2008)
- John Dryden (1697)
- Frederick Ahl (2007)
A bad-quality translation makes the story boring and difficult to read. A great translation brings the story to life and makes you want to keep reading.
Why Read The Aeneid?
The Aeneid has stayed relevant for over 2,000 years. It’s more than just good entertainment.
The Aeneid is the story of a man who had a mission. But he had obstacles in his way, too.
Just like Aeneas, we face overwhelming problems in our lives. And just like him, we face a choice: are we going to give up when things get tough? Or do we keep striving?
We read great works like the Aeneid because they inspire us in our own lives.
They leave us asking: "what about us?"
"Do I do everything I can to persevere in what I believe is right? If not, how can I do better?"
Famous Quotes from The Aeneid
What’s the point of knowing the Aeneid if you can’t use your classical poetry knowledge in everyday life?
Thankfully, you can. Here are the best lines from the Aeneid, ready for you to quote as needed.
"Arma virumque cano…"
The first line of the Aeneid is the most famous. It translates to “I sing of arms and a man,” though it sounds even better in Latin.
Quote this line when you want to pull a Virgil and tell a hero’s epic story — like when you’re about to tell everyone about the legendary pranks your friend pulled in freshman year.
“Are you now laying the foundations of high Carthage, as servant to a woman?”
The gods are tired of seeing Aeneas spend his time dallying with Queen Dido in Carthage when he is supposed to be fulfilling his destiny, so they send Mercury to spur him on.
Quote this line to your best friend who suddenly cancels all your plans to hang out with their new significant other, because not even love can get in the way of destiny!
“The time to act is now; such signs do not allow delay. Here are four altars raised to Neptune; the god himself gives us the will, the torches.”
Destiny can’t wait. Next time you hear about a job opening or get a nod from your crush, remind yourself “the time to act is now; such signs do not allow delay.”
Embracing the Classics
I hope this Aeneid summary gives you a taste of the power of classic poetry and leaves you excited to read the poem yourself.
The classics provide a ton of insight into our lives today.
Click here to get my free book The Bard and the Bees, where I discuss what Shakespeare’s plays can teach us about sex, evil, and life in our modern world.
If you liked this content, scroll down and sign up for my mailing list. You’ll get behind the scenes content and more articles like this delivered to your inbox!
-Evan