The Aeneid is an epic poem written in the first century BC by the Roman poet Virgil. The Aeneidtells the story of the Trojan prince Aeneas, who travels away from the burning city of Troy at the end of the Trojan War and goes to Italy to find the roots for the future Romans. Along the way, he will travel through hostile lands, abandon friends, fall in love with the African Queen Dido, and fight a war just as destructive as the Trojan War he had left behind.
The Aeneidtakes us through those vistas and places as seamlessly as possible, all while Virgil's excellent and tight poetry is providing a steady beat that roots us into the setting without totally throwing us out of the Aeneid. The Aeneid is written in dactylic hexameter, a meter most commonly recognized from other epic poems such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.
The Aeneid was also considered to be the world's first true propaganda piece since that it is a way of justifying the reign of Augustus. The culmination of the Aeneid comes at the shield of Aeneas that shows the future history of Rome, including a very lengthy and ornate description about the coming of Augustus and his heirs. While most of the Aeneid focuses on Aeneas' pietas, a set of Roman qualities that defines one's loyalty to gods, country, and family, the final lines of the Aeneid is inevitably that of furor, the uncontrollable rage of one who has lost his self-composure.
