Virgil

Born Publius Vergilius Maro in 70 BCE near Mantua in northern Italy, Virgil lived during the final, turbulent years of the Roman Republic and the rise of Augustus. His writing became central to the literary culture of the age, and later generations came to see him as Rome’s supreme poet.

His three major works are the Eclogues, the Georgics, and the Aeneid. Together they show an extraordinary range: pastoral poems about shepherds and song, a richly detailed poem on agriculture and rural labor, and finally the great national epic that follows Aeneas on his journey toward the future site of Rome.

Virgil died in 19 BCE, leaving the Aeneid unfinished, but its influence only grew after his death. For centuries he was read not just as a master of Latin verse, but as a writer of unusual seriousness, tenderness, and emotional depth.