Virgil: The Aeneid, Nov 15, 2026, Part 4 of 4, Please read Books 10-12
Details
Aeneid Session 4 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 [Books 1-9]
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
Reading Schedule:
Option 1:
Dec 13, 2026: Terence, The Comedies: Adelphoe & Eunuchus
Jan 3/17/31, 2027: The Bhagavad Gita
Feb 14/28, 2027: Ovid, Metamorphoses
March-June 2027: Ramayana/Mahabharata
July-Aug 2027: Journey to the West
Option 2:
Nov 29/Dec 13/27, 2026: The Bhagavad Gita
Jan 3, 2027: Terence, The Comedies: Adelphoe & Eunuchus
Jan 17/31/Feb 14/28 2027: The Ramayana
Mar 14/28, 2027: Ovid, Metamorphoses
April-May 2027: The Mahabharata
Jun/July 2027: Journey to the West
Readings:
The Bhagavad Gita [Hindu Scripture 2nd-1st Century BCE] +2
Terence, The Comedies: Adelphoe & Eunuchus [161-160 BCE] +1
Journey to the West [Chinese Novel, 7/16th C] +5
The Ramayana [Hindi Epic Poem, 8th-5th Century BCE] +4
Ovid, Metamorphoses [Latin Narrative Poem, 8 C.E.] +3
The Mahabharata [Hindi Epic War Poem, 8th-3rd Century BCE] +4
Cicero, How to Live: On Duties, On Old Age [44 BCE] +1
Sallust, Catiline's Conspiracy [c40 BCE] +1
For 2027/28:
Joyce, Dubliners
Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Joyce, Ulysses [back to The Odyssey transplanted to 1904 Dublin]