This free course offers an introduction to the Aeneid. Virgil’s Latin epic, written in the 1st century BCE, tells the story of the Trojan hero Aeneas and his journey to Italy, where he would become the ancestor of the Romans. Here, you will focus on the characterisation of this legendary hero, and learn why he was so important to the Romans of the Augustan era. This course uses translations of Virgil’s poem, and assumes no prior knowledge of Latin, but it will introduce you to some key Latin words and phrases in the original text.

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• gained a deeper understanding of ‘epic poetry’ in the ancient world
• explored the Aeneid’s central themes, in particular Roman values
• read in detail some passages of the Aeneid and investigated how Virgil uses language to enhance the impact of the poem
• considered some issues involved in reading poetry which was originally written in a different language.