1459, In Gutenberg's print shop

           1459 Germany

      The year one thousand four hundred fifty-nine,
         in Gutenberg's print shop was the printing location of Virgil's Aeneid,
         preserved for centuries, we could say, pulled out of the brine...

The Emperor Octavian (29 BC) in order to give his people
                                                                      [more glory and shine,
their history chronicled in a poem, in which the Romans
                                                             [would consider their shrine,

Virgil was chosen, a top poet, and without delay he started to write...

After much studying he was inspired by Homer's Iliad and Odyssey
                                                       [and he began writing lyrics day and night.

The end result was the famous epic, the Aeneid.

        Was he an inspired poet? Was he ambitious...
                                                            [maybe conceited?




According to Virgil
           [when Troy was captured by the Greeks,

Aeneas and his companions,
           [escaped by ships hidden in small creeks,
and went to Italy where they founded
           [the Roman Empire, the subsequent sovereign of the World..
                                _____________


I have traveled much and consorted with aristocracy to the underworld
and in different places I heard rumors that,
                        [the year 330 the descendants of the Trojans, now Romans, returned,
but because the Troy area was not safe, to the Greek city of Byzantium they turned.

There they were joined by the locals, and dominated East and West ...

Rumors also say that Byzantium renamed Constantinople,
                                              [and the Greco-Roman inhabitants were blessed.





The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem,written by

Virgil between 29 and 19 BC,that tells the  

legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who    

travelled to Italy, where he became the       

ancestor of the Romans.                              

__________________________________

to be continued

''IT COULD BE OTHERWISE  in verse''  

Texts and Narration: Odysseus Heavilayias - ROTTERDAM //
Language adjustments and text adaptation: Kellene G Safis - CHICAGO//
Digital adaptation and text editing: Cathy Rapakoulia Mataraga - PIRAEUS//

______________________________________________________________

*The Aeneid, (/ᵻˈniːɪd/; Latin: Aeneis [ae̯ˈneːɪs]) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It comprises 9,896 lines in dactylic hexameter. The first six of the poem's twelve books tell the story of Aeneas's wanderings from Troy to Italy, and the poem's second half tells of the Trojans' ultimately victorious war upon the Latins, under whose name Aeneas and his Trojan followers are destined to be subsumed.
The hero Aeneas was already known to Greco-Roman legend and myth, having been a character in the Iliad. Virgil took the disconnected tales of Aeneas's wanderings, his vague association with the foundation of Rome and a personage of no fixed characteristics other than a scrupulous pietas, and fashioned this into a compelling founding myth or national epic that at once tied Rome to the legends of Troy, explained the Punic Wars, glorified traditional Roman virtues, and legitimized the Julio-Claudian dynasty as descendants of the founders, heroes, and gods of Rome and Troy.

Α practice repeated through the ancient literary Silver Age. The Aeneid was also the inspiration for John Milton’s Paradise Lost, which reflected its epic structure, style and diction.

During his younger years, political and military strife afflicted Italy when the Roman Republic dispelled. A civil war between Marius and Sulla was followed by turmoil between Pompey and Julius Caesar. Caesar began a series of civil wars that lasted until the victory of Caesar Augustus (also known as Octavian) in 31 B.C. These experiences seared Virgil deeply, creating an abhorrence and fear of civil war 

* Virgil - Publius Vergilius Maro, was a famed Roman poet born on October 15, 70 B.C. in Italy. His last and most notable work was the epic poem the Aeneid, where he strove to exemplify what he positioned as Rome’s divine destiny. Written in 12 books, the poem is still regarded as a literary masterpiece today, with some questioning whether the poet also exhibited ambivalence over the cost of empire. The poem heavily relied upon Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey from the eighth century B.C. 

One of the most famous passages as noted in a Harvard University reading of the Aeneid is, “Easy is the descent to Avernus, for the door to the underworld lies open both day and night. But to retrace your steps and return to the breezes above—that's the task, that's the toil.”

It told the saga of an exiled hero Trojan prince named Aeneid after the destruction of Troy by the Greeks in the 12th century B.C. 
After his death, Virgil’s influence continued to inspire other poets throughout the ages. The poet died of fever in Brundisium (modern day Brindisi), Italy, on September 21, 19 B.C.

Virgil spent 11 years working on the Aeneid, left unfinished at the time of his death. When he died he left instructions not published, but Octavian did not follow his will. 
His art inspired others such as his younger contemporary, poet Ovid, whose work was reminiscent of Virgil's but withthat was often reflected in his text.
Virgil’s earliest work was the Eclogues, written between 42 and 37 B.C. The 10 hexameter poems reflected a stilted exploration of the pastoral world that Virgil perennially revered, with the Greek poet Theocritus providing inspiration for the collection.
Virgil also composed the Georgics, written between 37 and 30 B.C., towards the end of the civil wars. Georgics focused on the ins and outs of agricultural life, serving as a straightforward treatise supported by Augustus. 

 ELEGHOS... at history