September 21: The Roman poet Virgil died in 19 BC and went down in history for having created the poem "Aeneid".

Depiction of Virgil, 3rd century AD.

The Aeneid is an epic poem that tells the story of the Trojan Aeneas traveling to the peninsula where he becomes the ancestor of all Romans.

Virgil Reading the Aeneid to Augustus, Octavia, and Livia by Jean-Baptiste Wicar , Art Institute of Chicago.

Mythical hero Aeneas was a son of Aphrodite (Venus and Roman mythology) and Anchises. It was Hector's cousin who defended as far as he could his city Troy against the Greeks (See Iliad). Hector was son of Priam, king of Troy.

According to Homer, Aeneas did not like being subordinate to Hector. Although some writers judge him of treason, as seems to have been the leader of the Trojans who survived the Greek invasion.

According to mythology, Aeneas escaped and began a journey that led him to the land of Lazio (Italy today) where he finished as king and progenitor of the Roman people.

In 27 B.C.E., after Octavian was given the title of Augustus, the emperor exhorted Vergil to write about Rome under his rule. 

In accordance with the mythological story, the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, were descendants of Aeneas.

Virgil-Quotes

Aeneas fleeing Troy, was accompanied by all his family, but his wife died after falling behind and, later appeared as a ghost to tell him not suffering under the pressure over his death, because that was his destination, and Aeneas's destiny would be the father of a great nation: Rome.

Virgil-Quotes