Authors

Virgil

Citation Formats

General Reference

Literature Atlas. "Virgil." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://literature.interactiveatlas.org/authors/virgil.

APA Style

Literature Atlas. (n.d.). Virgil. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://literature.interactiveatlas.org/authors/virgil

BibTeX

@misc{literatureatlas-virgil,
  author = {Literature Atlas},
  title = {Virgil},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://literature.interactiveatlas.org/authors/virgil},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Publius Vergilius Maro, known in English as Virgil, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period, author of three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: the Eclogues (or Bucolics), the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid. His Eclogues adapted Theocritus's pastoral poetry into Latin and became highly influential on the genre's later European tradition.

Facts

Birth Year

70 BCE 1

Death Year

19 BCE 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Pastoral

Virgil adapted pastoral into Latin with his Eclogues, highly influential on the genre's later European tradition; the genre's own origin-place fact already names him.

Source Virgil (Wikipedia)

In Genre

Epic

The Aeneid already in-genre Epic; Virgil himself carried no in-genre edge to it.

Source Virgil (Wikipedia)

Influenced

Dante Alighieri

Dante casts Virgil as his own guide through Hell and most of Purgatory in the Divine Comedy, the clearest possible authorial acknowledgment of influence.

Source Virgil (Wikipedia)

Influenced By

Homer

Virgil modelled the Aeneid on Homer's two epics: the first six books on the Odyssey, the last six on the Iliad.

Source Virgil (Wikipedia)

Theocritus

Virgil's Eclogues are modelled on Theocritus's pastoral Idylls, the same seam already reflected on both authors' shared associated-with edge to the Pastoral genre.

Source Virgil (Wikipedia)

Works Attributed

The Aeneid

Source Wikipedia: The Aeneid

Sources

1. Virgil (Wikipedia)

Wikimedia FoundationLead section

Quote, Lead section

He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: the Eclogues (or Bucolics), the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid.

View the Source

1. Virgil (Wikipedia)

Wikimedia FoundationInfobox

Quote, Infobox

Died 21 September 19 BC in Brundisium, Italy.

View the Source

1. Virgil (Wikipedia)

Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: PastoralView the Source

1. Virgil (Wikipedia)

Wikimedia FoundationInfluenced By: Homer, Aeneid section

Quote, Influenced By: Homer, Aeneid section

The work, modelled after Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, chronicles the journey of a warrior and refugee.

View the Source

1. Virgil (Wikipedia)

Wikimedia FoundationInfluenced By: Theocritus, Eclogues section

Quote, Influenced By: Theocritus, Eclogues section

The Eclogues (from the Greek for 'selections') are a group of ten poems roughly modelled on the bucolic ('pastoral' or 'rural') poetry of the Hellenistic poet Theocritus.

View the Source

1. Virgil (Wikipedia)

Wikimedia FoundationInfluenced: Dante Alighieri, Middle Ages section

Quote, Influenced: Dante Alighieri, Middle Ages section