Aeneid of Virgil (The Great Courses 303) (Audiobook) (Repost)

Setting a capstone on the treatment of classical epic that she began with her extraordinary lectures on Homer, Professor Elizabeth Vandiver has created this masterful course on Virgil. The Aeneid is the great national epic of ancient Rome, and one of the most important works of literature ever written. It was basic to the education of generations of Romans, and has stirred the imaginations of such writers and artists as St. Augustine, Dante, Chaucer, Brueghel the Elder, Milton, Rubens, Tennyson, Ezra Pound, and T. S. Eliot. The Aeneid represents both Virgil's tribute to Homer and his attempt to re-imagine and surpass the Homeric model. With Professor Vandiver's help and instruction, you enter fully into the gripping tale that Virgil tells. You join Aeneas on his long journey west from ruined Troy to the founding of a new nation in Italy, and see how he weaves a rich network of compelling human themes. His poem is an examination of leadership, a study of the conflict between duty and desire, a meditation on the relationship of the individual to society and of art to life, and a Roman's reflection on the dangers—and the allure—of Hellenistic culture.