AeneasDidoANCIENT_Vergilius Romanus

AeneasDidoANCIENT_VergiliusRomanus

Vergil Aeneid 1.335-69, 6.450-76, and Book 4 passim
Naevius Bellum Punicum

Vergilius Romanus, MS. Vat. Lat. 3867, AD 5th Century, Folio 106r, illustration depicting Dido and Aeneas in the Storm (cf. Aen. 4.106ff.)
Dido and Aeneas are shown lower right weathering the storm, as Juno and Venus have conspired to bring compromise both their plans, Aeneas' plan to get to Latium, Dido's plan to preserve her memory of her deceased husband.

This important parchment manuscript is a monument to Vergil's popularity in the 5th Century — a sure classic — but also an important witness of Late Antique art.

Click for another image from Vergilius Romanus, the banquet of Dido and Aeneas, Folio 100v.

Ancient manuscript illustration depicting multiple scenes: a warrior, a seated figure with a parasol, two horses, and two seated men in conversation

Naevius and Ennius had earlier written about Dido, the Carthaginian queen, and her relationship with Aeneas. Vergil's treatment, however, trumped theirs. And Ovid's nearly contemporary account Heroides 7 makes it clear that Vergil's version became an early classic.

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1400 – 1990’s, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University Press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.