Virgil: The Aeneid, Nov 1, 2026, Pt 3 of 4, Please read Books 7-9
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REMEMBER: STANDARD TIME BEGINS NOV 1ST 2026
Aeneid Session 3 of 4.
After Gilgamesh's search for meaning against death and Homer's warring, wandering heroes, Virgil's The Aeneid completes the arc: Aeneas subordinates personal desire—for Troy, for Dido, for glory—to a mandated future, founding not a city he chooses but one fate demands. Where Achilles seeks kleos and Odysseus seeks home, Aeneas seeks neither; he seeks duty. Virgil, writing under Augustus, transforms Homeric epic into political myth, examining empire's costs alongside its glories. Reading it last shows our group Rome consciously answering Greece—absorbing, revising, and politicizing epic conventions for a new imperial age.
Recommend Edition(s):
Your choice -see comparison in Resources below.
Resources:
Aeneid Topics
Aeneid Prior Sessions Summary [Bks 1-6]
Aeneid Translation Comparison
Schedule of Readings:
10-4-26: Virgil: Aeneid Books 1-3
10-18-26: Virgil: Aeneid Books 4-6
11-1-26: Virgil: Aeneid Books 7-9
11-15-26: Virgil: Aeneid Books 10-12
Future Mythological Readings:
The Bhagavad Gita [Hindu Scripture 2nd-1st Century BCE]
Journey to the West [Chinese Novel, 16th C]
Metamorphoses [Latin Narrative Poem, 8 C.E.]
The Ramayana [Hindi Epic Poem, 8th-5th Century BCE]
The Mahabharata [Hindi Epic War Poem, 8th-3rd Century BCE]
Songs of the South [Chinese Poetry]
For 2028:
Joyce, Dubliners
Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Joyce, Ulysses [back to The Odyssey transplanted to 1904 Dublin]