Virgil

Definition

Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 BCE), better known to most modern readers as Virgil, was one of the greatest poets of the early Roman Empire. His best-known work, the Aeneid, told of a Trojan prince, Aeneas, who escaped the burning of Troy in the final days of the Trojan War to eventually make his way across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy (Latium) where his descendants Romulus and Remus would ultimately found the city of Rome. He was so highly regarded by those authors who followed him that the early 14th-century CE Italian author Dante Alighieri chose Virgil as his guide through the nine levels of hell in The Inferno.

More about: Virgil

Timeline

  • 15 Oct 70 BCE - 21 Sep 19 BCE
    Life of Roman poet Virgil.
  • c. 39 BCE - c. 38 BCE
    Roman poet Virgil writes his first collection of ten poems, the Eclogues.
  • c. 30 BCE - c. 19 BCE
    Roman poet Virgil writes his Aeneid.
  • c. 30 BCE
    Roman poet Virgil completes his second collection of poems, the Georgics.
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