Virgil (70–19 BCE), born Publius Vergilius Maro near Mantua in northern Italy, ranks among ancient Rome's foremost poets. He wrote three major works: the Eclogues (c. 37 BCE), pastoral poems influenced by Theocritus; the Georgics (c. 29 BCE), a didactic poem on agriculture and rural life; and the Aeneid, an epic in twelve books recounting the journey of Aeneas from Troy to the founding of Rome, left unfinished at his death. The Aeneid became a foundational text of Roman imperial identity and one of the most influential works in Western literature, shaping Dante, Milton, and many others. Virgil was associated with the patron Maecenas and the emperor Augustus, and died at Brundisium.
