Virgil

Publius Vergilius Maro, known in English as Virgil or Vergil, was a Roman poet born in 70 BCE near Mantua in northern Italy and active during the age of Augustus. He is best known for three major works: the Eclogues, the Georgics, and the Aeneid, each showing a different side of his art—from pastoral poetry to farming verse to national epic.

The Aeneid, left unfinished at his death in 19 BCE, became his most famous work. It follows Aeneas from the ruins of Troy to Italy and links myth, destiny, and Roman identity in a way that made the poem central to later classical education and Western literature.

Ancient details about Virgil’s life are limited and come partly from later biographies, so some personal details remain uncertain. Even so, his reputation has endured for more than two thousand years: admired by Roman readers, studied throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and remembered as one of the great poets of the ancient world.