LITERATURE
Reading Virgil's The Aeneid as a follow-on to The Odyssey and as a prequel to my trip to Rome, I was fascinated by the differences between the Greek and Roman epic poems. Virgil tells the myth-narrative of the founding of Rome and its empire. The hero, Aeneas, defeated at Troy, leads the remaining Trojans on adventures throughout the Mediterranean to fulfill his god-given destiny to found Rome in Italy. Along the way he scorns beautiful Dido, visits his father in the underworld, and unleashes carnage in Italy. While this version has a decent introductory essay I highly recommend pairing your reading of this Western Civilization classic with the podcast Literature and History's four episodes on The Aeneid and BBC's In Our Time discussion.
