I was always told that this was a "rip-off" from Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. It is definitely in the style of Homer's poems, but it has a thrilling plot of its own.
I almost liked this better than The Iliad and The Odyssey! This narration really made it though. Simon Callow is amazing as a narrator. The Fagles translation also made it easier to comprehend, although the more scholarly translations make it rhyme which is nice since it is an epic poem!
This poem was written during the time of Augustus around the time of Christ.
It is about Aeneas who escaped after the sacking of Troy to found Rome because it was his destiny! He has many setbacks along the way with the gods always interfering. It is a great story.
I sing of warfare and a man at war.From the sea-coast of Troy in early daysHe came to Italy by destiny,To our Lavinian western shore,A fugitive, this captain, buffeted. . .Till he could found a city and bring homeHis gods to Laetium, land of the Latin race,The Alban lords, and the high walls of Rome.Tell me the causes now, O Muse, how galled. . .From her old wound, the queen of gods compelled him—. . . To undergo so many perilous daysAnd enter on so many trials. Can angerBlack as this prey on the minds of heaven? (I.1–19)One of the characters is Dido from Carthage. It was great that the "Art of the Day" today was this painting:
Dido building Carthage, or The Rise of the Carthaginian Empire (1815)
Turner imitates his hero Claude in this ambitious painting. Inspired by Virgil’s epic poem the ‘Aeneid’, Dido appears on left sporting blue robes, bossing people around as she establishes Carthage. In his will, Turner asked for this painting to be shown alongside Claude’s 'Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba'. To his delight, it appears there in London’s National Gallery today. For more see http://www.artfinder.com/listing/uk/london/turner-inspired-in-the-light-of-claude/
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