Among the Ancients: Virgil

In the ninth episode of Among the Ancients, Emily and Tom arrive at Virgil, focusing on his 12-book epic the Aeneid, which describes the wanderings of the Trojan prince Aeneas after the fall of Troy. They discuss the political background to Virgil’s life, which saw the fall of the Roman Republic, and the complex, ambiguous space his poetry inhabits, blending the mythical and historical, the geographical and imaginary, while interrogating the costs of empire and triumph in his own time. Non-subscribers can only hear extracts from most of the episodes in this series. To listen in full, and to all our other Close Readings series, subscribe: Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Further reading in the LRB: Denis Feeney: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v29/n01/denis-feeney/simile-world Rebecca Armstrong https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n05/rebecca-armstrong/all-kinds-of-unlucky Colin Burrow: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v22/n05/colin-burrow/imperiumsinefinism https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v38/n08/colin-burrow/you-ve-listened-long-enough Emily Wilson is Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and Thomas Jones is an editor at the London Review of Books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices