Vergil's Aeneid

     Last week, I received a comment asking why the myth of Pyramus and Thisbe was not as well known as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. My answer to that question is simply this...  In the world Latin scholars, studying Latin literature such as Ovid, Pyramus and Thisbe is a well known story/myth. For the common person in these days, they don't here about it because they study English literature instead of Latin literature (which in my opinion, is much more interesting than English literature).

     This week, I am going to write about Vergil. Vergil is the author of the Aeneid. The Aeneid is one of the most famous works in Latin. It is categorized as a literary epic. Inside the Aeneid, there are many myths, but one, in particular, stands out above the rest. It is the story between Aeneas and Dido.

     Aeneas in the hero of the Trojan war, and when the city of Troy fell, he left with seven ships. Nearing Africa, he became shipwrecked on the coast of Carthage. There he met Dido, the Queen of Carthage. At that moment, the most tragic love story began. Dido and Aeneas fell deeply in love, but that did not last long because the gods pulled Aeneas away to finish his quest in Italy, to establish something that had not existed before. Dido was heartbroken and depressed. Before she committed suicide, she had declared to Aeneas that their countries, Rome and Carthage, will never be at peace. Thus the reason for the three Punic Wars.