Virgil died on 21 September 19 BCE in Brindisi, aged 50. A Roman poet of the Augustan age, Virgil was born near Mantua and, with the support of the patron Maecenas, became the leading poet of Rome. His works include the Eclogues, pastoral poems, the Georgics, a poem on farming, and the Aeneid, the national epic that tells how the Trojan hero Aeneas escaped from the fall of Troy and founded the line that led to Rome. He died before he could finish it, and asked that it be destroyed, but Augustus ordered it to be published. Virgil's influence on later literature is immense, and in Dante's Divine Comedy he serves as the poet's guide.
Before and after
- 27 BCEOrigins of Pula Arena
- from 27 BCE to 180 CEPax Romana
- c. 20 BCEVirgil's Aeneid is published
- 19 BCEConstruction of Western Wall
- 21 September 19 BCEDeath of Virgil
- from 18 BCE to 660 CEThree Kingdoms of Korea
- from 18 BCE to 660 CEBaekje
- 12 BCEOrigins of Pyramid of Cestius
- 1 August 10 BCEBirth of Claudius
More in Art, literature & culture
- c. 1,500 BCEOrigins of Zoroastrianism
- 551 BCEBirth of Confucius
- 6th century BCEOrigins of Judaism
- c. 375 BCEWriting of the Allegory of the Cave
- 33 CEOrigins of Christianity
- 381 CEFirst Council of Constantinople
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 1st century BCE.