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Virgil, Roman Poet > 
Virgil's most famous and significant contribution to the classical canon is undoubtedly his Aeneid. Indeed, this is the work of Virgil's most influential to the Divine Comedy, as well. Building directly on the tradition of epic poetry begun by Homer, the Aeneid is a twelve-book story about the foundation of Rome. In dactylic hexameter in Latin, it tells the story of the hero Aeneas and the travel, adventure, and hardship he endured to reach Italy and start the city of Rome. The poem was immensely popular in Rome, especially because it popularized and retold many of the common myths and stories of the day. It alluded to the most well-known mythology and folklore, and it even had a theme relevant to its age. Since Virgil was writing under a patron who was close to the emperor, his stories had an element of political propaganda to them. In the Aeneid, he tied the lineage of Aeneas to that of Caesar, legitimizing the position of the monarch (as a successor to the former Roman Republic), and pleasing the emperor.
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More on this Website >
• http://users.erols.com/antos/dante/about_virg.html
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Homer, Greek Poet
No one is exactly sure who Homer was. Theories abound, and some even think he never existed. Regardless, he is traditionally recognized as the original creator of two e... |
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The Aeneid, Virgil
Virgil's great epic transforms the Homeric tradition into a triumphal statement of the Roman civilizing mission. The Aeneid describes the adventures of Aeneas, the legend... |
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Dante, Writer of Divina Commedia
Dante Alighieri was born in 1265 in Florence, Italy. He was exiled from the city for life. For 20 years Dante lived in exile, wandered Europe, and wrote one of the greate... |
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