ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Publius Vergilius Maro, the eldest of the several poets and the first to come under the patronage of Maecenas. It explains why Virgil chose the Aeneid for his Augustan epic. The chapter suggests that the Etruscan legend of Aeneas and that of his ancestor Dardanus were known to Virgil and Maecenas and that this may have influenced the choice of Aeneas as hero for Virgil’s epic. In the Aeneid itself the Etruscans feature prominently in the second half of the epic, as the action changes from Aeneas’ quest for a new homeland for his Trojans to the events that transpire when he has reached Italy. The chapter argues that the cumulative evidence presented is stronger than the alternate version that the story of Aeneas has a basis in the archaeological evidence from Lavinium, which seems thin at best.
