Virgil's Aeneid as Roman PropagandaRome was experiencing much internal turmoil at the time Virgil was writing the Aeneid. There was a sort of identity crisis in Rome because it had no definitive leader or history. With the accession of Augustus to the throne, Rome was unified again. Yet there was no ledger. The Greeks had their Odyssey, giving them a sense of history and continuity through time. A commonly held view is that the Aeneid attempts to give the Romans this sense of continuity or roots. There is ample textual evidence to support this interpretation. Virgil makes numerous references to the greatness of Rome through “ancient” prophecies. Obviously, the entire poem is an account of the founders of Rome. In some sense this makes the Aeneid seem like a piece of propaganda. However, upon closer inspection, Virgil presents another idea. War is depicted as a vicious and bloody event, not a glorious event. The image of war condemns the idea of ​​Rome as the all-powerful conqueror of other nations. What's more, the emphasis on duty is often ridiculed. These underlying ideas seem to run counter to the theory that Virgil was simply producing a synthesized history of the ancient Romans. In order to determine the true intention of the Aeneid, it is important to examine the two ideas presented. “I sing of war and a man at war… Until he can found a city… the high walls of Rome. » (Book I, 1-12) There is no doubt that the Aeneid is a story of the history of Rome. There are several elements in Virgil that connect the story of Aeneas to the Rome of his time. Probably the most obvious of these is the surplus of predictions regarding Rome...... middle of article...... many readers still are today). . Perhaps it was a glorification of Rome which had some discrepancies. Perhaps it was an attack on the character of Rome, with some inconsistencies. Either way, it doesn't work well. Whatever Virgil's argument is, he undermines it by putting forward the opposing argument. If Virgil intended to attack Rome, he failed in some respects. Likewise, if he intended the Aeneid to be a work of Roman propaganda, he was ineffective. Works cited and consulted Horsfall, Nicholas, ed. A Companion to the Study of Virgil. Leiden, New York and Cologne: EJ Brill, 1995. Putnam, Michael CJ "Anger, blindness and insight in Virgil's Aeneid." Apeiron 23 (1990): 7-40. Virgil. Aeneid. Dover Thrift Edition. Trans. Charles J. Billson. New York: Dover, 1995.