ENG255 / HUM241

The Aeneid transformed the Trojan losers into winners and the Greek winners into losers. The Trojans were noble and long-suffering, the Greeks devious and dangerous. Achilles got an especially bad rap in the Aeneid---he was represented as Turnus, the raging Latin warrior who caused great destruction and had to be killed before there could be peace in Italy.

Virgil was pre-Christian (he died in 19 BCE), but the values presented in the Aeneid were compatible with Christian values, emphasizing the virtues of piety, suffering, leadership, and obedience to the gods. Oddly, the gods in the Aeneid were not much of a problem for Christian readers, perhaps because Jupiter was represented as wise and good. So, while Homer was ignored in the European Middle Ages, Virgil continued to be read and loved.

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

• Roman Architecture: This attractive site has substantial information about Roman architecture, illustrated by a few charming old drawings. The site claims to have taken the material from old books--I wish they had cited the sources.
• Roman Art and Architecture: From Encarta; good information, annoying ads.
• Roman Art: Part of Art History Resources on the Web; a huge collection of links, some annotated, to sites presenting images and other information about Roman art and history, grouped by time and type.

BOOKS BY OR ABOUT VIRGIL

• A Bibliographic Guide to Vergil's Aeneid :
  by Shirley Werner; an impressively thorough listing of a broad variety of Virgilian materials, from ancient scholarship to modern theory; includes many hyperlinks to information about various topics and authors.
• Bibliography of Vergilian Scholarship: 1991-1992: the extent of scholarship, arranged by topic for only a couple of years, is rather awesome to contemplate, and quite useful if you are into Virgil scholarship.
• Virgil in Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance: an Online Bibliography: by David Wilson-Okamura; a wonderful range of scholarly materials for those interested in the continuity of Virgil into later times.

ESSAYS

• HISTOS: The Electronic Journal of Ancient Historiography at The University of Durham; includes volume 1 (1997) and volume 2 (1998). Essays on various classical topics, including Greece, Rome and the Byzantine Empire.
• Lecture on Ovid's Metamorphosis: Puts this Roman epic poem, which tells of the Trojan War in Books 11-13, into a historical context.
• Mortal Women of the Trojan War: The Women of the Trojan War in Latin Literature.
• Vergil and the Aeneid: Chapter 11 of Mark Damen's course from USU, Ancient Literature and Language, including a link to slides for the lecture, as well as annotations for reading the Aeneid..

ETEXTS

• Aelius Donatus: A Life of Virgil. From the 4th century. The main source for later lives of Virgil. Translated and introduced by David Wilson-Okamura.
• The Aeneid: This free etext from MIT uses John Dryden's translation. Among other features, this Web Site offers you a place where you can read what other people have written about this text; you can also post your own comments about the Aeneid here. The entire text of the Aeneid can be searched as well as downloaded.
• The Argonautica: by Apollonius Rhodius (fl. 3rd Century BCE) This famous story of Jason and the Argonauts includes the love affair of Jason and Medea. Medea, a rather terrible witch, provides an ominous source, along with Cleopatra, for poor Dido (who has a few ominous undertones herself).
• Caesar Augustus: Primary Sources: A wide variety of interesting etexts related to Augustus Caesar, ranging from writings of Augustus and his contemporaries to a modern essay on marriage laws of the Augustan period by Mary Lefkowitz and Maureen Fant. This site is a segment of Virgil.org by David Wilson-Okamura.
• Didone Liberata:  by Salvatore Conte. This site contains a play about Dido based on the story in the Aeneid. The play is in Italian as is much of the site. There are also extensive links to all sorts of interesting Dido materials, many in English, and some gorgeous images of Dido from great painters as well as an abstract of the play in English. Definitely worth a visit.
• Lacus Curtius: Into the Roman World; collected and organized by Bill Thayer. A wonderful collection of Greek and Latin etexts, many with English translations, and a number of older (e.g. in public domain) histories of Roman civilization, as well as a collection of photos of Rome and environs with commentary.
• Life of Augustus: by Nicholaus of Damascus. Trans. by Clayton M. Hall (1923)
• Metamorphosis: by Ovid. Etext of another Roman version of the story of the Trojan War, as told in Books XI, XII and XIII of the Metamorphosis. This is part of the Perseus site; scroll down the page to the Table of Contents and select the books you want to read. 
• The Secret History of Virgil: by Alexander Neckam. A medieval author's version of Virgil's afterlife as a magician.
• Women's Life in Greece and Rome: by Mary Lefkowitz and Maureen Fant. Adapted from their book for Diotima.

HISTORY

• De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors.
• Greek and Roman History: Links, images, documents and notes about all sorts of interesting materials, ranging from classical Greece to late antiquity.

IMAGES

• Augustus: Images of Power: by Mark Morford. Excellent clear images that can be enlarged: includes the Mausoleum of Augustus, the Altar of Peace, and a famous statue of Augustus.
• Maecenas: Images of ancient Greece and Rome. 1100 photographs, mostly of Rome, by Leo C. Curran.
• Ovid's Metamorphosis Englished: The images from the 1640 edition translated by George Sandys. Quite interesting to see Renaissance ideas of Roman mythology.

LATIN LITERATURE

• BMR Review: Virgil. Edited by Ian McAuslan and Peter Walcot and Oxford Readings in Vergil's Aeneid. Edited by S. J. Harrison.
• BMR Review: Vergil's Aeneid and the Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius by Damien Nelis.
• Latin Language and Literature: an excellent collection of texts, Latin-English dictionaries and study aids for Latin. Texts include both Latin and English. 
• Vergil's Aeneid: A well-developed study guide with links to the Perseus classical database.

MAP

• Roman World: Shows the countries of origin of Roman emperors, starting with Trajan.

MYTHOLOGY

• Greek Names Vs. Roman Names: A useful list of corresponding names for the gods in Greek and Latin.

VIRGIL HOME PAGES AND LINKS

• Vergil's Home Page: This site from the U. of Pennsylvania includes links to e-texts, bibliographies, discussion lists, images and other Virgil sites. Don't worry about the spelling; both "Vergil" and "Virgil" are used. Unfortunately, some of the links lead nowhere, but many are fine.
• Virgil.org: This is David Wilson-Okamura's very attractive home page for Virgil materials, including links to his bibliography of paperbacks by and about Virgil (see above), Mantovano--the Virgil Discussion Group, an ancient life of Virgil by Servius, and e-texts of Virgil's minor poems. A good place to start learning about Virgil on the Web.