Department of Classical Studies
An interpretation of the Aeneid as an epic contest to determine which kind of story it will tell—and what kind of hero Aeneas will be. This contest is provoked by the transgressive goddess Juno, who challenges Vergil for the soul of his hero and poem. The battle over which kind of leader Aeneas will prove to be continues throughout the poem, and explores how this struggle reflects in very different ways on the ethical legitimacy of Rome’s emperor, Caesar Augustus.