We begin our discussion of the Aeneid by considering the nature of Aeneas as a hero. Compared to the previous heroes of the epic tradition, such as Odysseus, Achilles, or Hector, Aeneas seems to lack some of their heroic excellences. Of course, Vergil is writing from a very different historical and cultural position – he is composing his poem many centuries further from the events of the Trojan war than the Odyssey and the Iliad were composed, and he writes from within the Roman empire at the moment of its greatest triumph. How does this change the nature of what Vergil attempts in his epic? Why did he chose Aeneas, a loser, as his hero, and as the mythic founder of Rome, and of the lineage of Julius Caesar? We also consider the poem’s treatment of Dido, the queen who founds Carthage (a city which Rome will eventually defeat in battle and destroy). Are we meant to feel empathy with her? What is the relationship between the poem’s depictions of Carthage, and the prophecy of Jupiter that the Romans are fated to become the eternal masters of the world?