CLASSICS 1B03 Final: Classics 1B03 Exam Notes
10 Dec 2016
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Document Summary
Virgil is known as the preeminent poet of the roman empire. He was born as publius vergilius maro on october 15th, 70 bc near mantua. Virgil lived at the height of the first age of the roman empire, during the reign of the emperor octavian. Virgil lived during the first triumvirate: julius caesar, pompey, and crassus, all governors of the roman republic. After he wrote the georgics, virgil began his masterwork, the aeneid. He entered the good graces of augustus; aeneid legitimize augustus"s reign. Virgil crafted the events narrated in the aeneid from an existing tradition surrounding aeneas that extended from homer and livy. Just before his death he ordered the aeneid to be burned, because it was unfinished; augustus intervened arranging for the poem to be published. Throughout the middle ages and into the renaissance, his fame grew. Virgil"s poetry was available to the literate classes. Most scholars hold that virgil"s poetry pales in comparison to homer"s.
