The Aeneid of Virgil

The Great Courses

by Elizabeth Vandiver

The Aeneid is the great national epic of ancient Rome, and one of the most important works of literature ever written. It was basic to the education of generations of Romans, and has stirred the imaginations of such writers and artists as St. Augustine, Dante, Milton, and countless others. The Aeneid represents both Virgil's tribute to Homer and his attempt to re-imagine and surpass the Homeric model. With Professor Vandiver's help and instruction, you enter fully into the gripping tale that Virgil tells.

You join Aeneas on his long journey west from ruined Troy to the founding of a new nation in Italy, and see how he weaves a rich network of compelling human themes. His poem is an examination of leadership, a study of the conflict between duty and desire, a meditation on the relationship of the individual to society and of art to life, and a Roman's reflection on the dangers—and the allure—of Hellenistic culture.

Genres: Nonfiction, Classics, Mythology, History, Audiobook, Literature, Italy

12 pages, Audio CD

Published January 1, 1999

About the author

Elizabeth Vandiver is Associate Professor of Classics and Clement Biddle Penrose Professor of Latin at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. She was formerly Director of the Honors Humanities program at the University of Maryland at College Park, where she also taught in the Department of Classics. She completed her undergraduate work at Shimer College and went on to earn her M.A. and Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin.

Prior to taking her position at Maryland, she held visiting professorships at Northwestern University, the University of Georgia, the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome, Loyola University of New Orleans, and Utah State University.

Professor Vandiver is the author of Heroes in Herodotus: The Interaction of Myth and History. She has also written numerous articles and has delivered many papers at national and international conferences.

In 1998, The American Philological Association recognized her achievements as a lecturer with its Excellence in Teaching Award, the most prestigious teaching prize given to American classicists. Her other awards include the Northwestern University Department of Classics Excellence in Teaching Award and two University of Georgia Outstanding Honors Professor Awards.

Reviews

[ladydusk · Rating 5 out of 5]

These lectures made all the difference in my *hearing* of The Aeneid. Dr. Vandiver is clear, presents multiple possible perspectives, and helps the reader to understand The Aeneid and its place in the Western tradition. She helps to both tie and separate it from Homer. The first time I listened to The Aeneid, it felt like fan fiction, but Dr Vandiver helped it to stand on its own.

This year, I listened to the Aeneid and didn't like it. I asked for advice and purchased these lectures. I listened to the first few which are background and issues related to the Aeneid, then I listened to each book after the lecture in which she discussed it. This was a brilliant way of learning to appreciate, even enjoy my second reading.

Last year, we listened to Dr Vandiver's Classical Mythology course. I'm quite certain that helped with my enjoyment and understanding of The Iliad, Odyssey, and, now, the Aeneid. I'm a fan. Highly Recommended.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Vandiver's series of lectures on the Aeneid is wonderful. She not only gets you to want to reread it, but her love and passion for the subject matter are great.

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Birth of the Roman People, Inspired by Homer's Iliad and Odyssey
Other than knowing the name of the tale and its author in passing reference, I had no idea what it was about until I got interested in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey as I started diving into Greek and Roman history in preparation for a first trip to Rome (I like to do that prior to visiting new places). Only then did I find out that this story is a Roman one, not a Greek one, but takes direct inspiration from both the Iliad and Odyssey for its narrative themes, structure, heroes, and events. It's essentially the story of Aeneas, a minor noble of Troy who survives the sacking of the city (as alluded to but not directly described by Homer) and flees first to Carthage and Sicily before moving onto the Italian mainland, fighting many battles, before settling in Rome and essentially founding the Roman people. That's a major simplification, but essentially that's the story.

Since I had enjoyed Prof Vandiver's explanations/lectures on the Iliad and Homer, it was an obvious choice to move to this book next and get the same insight on a tale told in Roman times, essentially telling the story of how the Romans came to be, an origins tale. I have to say she provided the same level of historical knowledge and enthusiasm, and I understood the historical significance of the tale, but the story itself didn't resonate as strongly as Homer's tales. To be fair, I haven't read any of the actual epics in translation, so I can't really be conclusive, but just didn't pique my interest to the same degree. If I ever feel very ambitious in retirement, I may give all three a try, but for this trip just knowing their historical and cultural importance is enough for now.

[William Adam Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 12 lecture course on "The Aeneid" is the third course by Elizabeth Vandiver that I have completed from the Great Courses. I already finished "Classical Mythology" and "Greek Tragedy". She was also a co-professor on a course "Great Authors of the Western Intellectual Tradition", which she covered the Greek and Roman authors in that course. Professor Vandiver is one of the elite professors that the Great Courses has working for them. She is always well spoken, well prepared, interesting, and has a lot of insightful critical analysis about the topics she is presenting. As you are listening to these lectures, its as if she anticipates the questions that you might be having while listening to the lectures, and she addresses those questions. I find her very engaging, she makes topics more fascinating than perhaps you would think they would be.

I have a pretty good background on "The Aeneid", having summarized it in school so my students could see how it fit into Roman culture. Having said that, Professor Vandiver brings further insight and lays out the story, its background, key moments, culture significance, and analysis to a higher level. This course is only 12 lectures, and I feel that is about right. Too many more could be tedious, and less could be too superficial. While I might rate this course slightly less than her other two that I have finished, I think that says more about how good the other two are, not taking anything away from this superior course.

[Dennis Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aeneid of Virgil by Elizabeth Vandiver is another excellent little course. At this stage, its hard for me to write anything new about Vandiver and why her courses are fantastic. She has a great love for her subject, mastery over her material, and is full of little notes and turns of phrases that convince you of her ideal placement as our guide to Virgil's great epic. This is a short one, and I would recommend it to anyone even thinking about reading the Aeneid, be it for school or pleasure in later day life.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audio download.
In Mrs Scott's Latin II class, during my sophomore year in high school (1964-65) we were tasked with translating parts of Caesar's Gallic Wars and Vergil's Aeneid (I can't remember which book). I (kind of) understood Caesar's prose and actually enjoyed translation it (what teenaged boy wouldn't like the war exploits of an historic legend). Vergil, however, was an entirely different can of worms. Maybe it was the poetic nature/composition that confused me, or just the complicated manner the words were juxtaposed...I just didn't get Vergil.
Fast-forward to 2010 and my next/first reading of the Aeneid (Kline, 2002 translation)...not bad, but the cast of thousands was a bit daunting and the poetic presentation detracted from the story (OK, that's heresy...but the truth). I found the same to be true of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Now comes Dr Vandiver's lectures covering not only the Aeneid, but the other two works of Homer as well...admittedly a super version of Cliff-notes, but captivating nonetheless. Now I get it. Now when I re-re-read portions of the translations I can honestly understand the beauty of Vergil, and better grasp how this work help to serve as a model for the Roman population as they entered into the 'Pax Romana' and the culmination of influence and power. In this single work, the Romans established a cultural identity that lives on into current times.
Very good set of lectures, delivered succinctly...even Dr Vandiver's reciting the verses in Latin, which brought back horrible memories of my having to read aloud in class in Latin those very verses way back when...that are highly recommended (especially when on sale, with a coupon, even though they are worth the full price).

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A help as always for Great Books, and Dr. Vandiver is one of the best.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This course provides an overview of the Aeneid by Virgil, covering the major plot points and themes.

The Aeneid is the Roman Empire’s foundation myth in which the legendary Trojan warrior Aeneas becomes the ancestor of the Roman people. Through this work, Virgil connects the Roman civilization to the glory of mythic Troy as well as Homer’s epics the Iliad and The Odyssey. He also offers an exploration of moral virtue and a subtle warning — to the Emperor Octavius and everyone thereafter — about the cost of creating empires and waging war.

Elizabeth Vandiver is my favorite Great Courses classics professor. She is engaging and renders ancient cultures accessible, humanizing their inhabitants. Her courses on The Odyssey of Homer and The Iliad of Homer are also excellent for anyone seeking to understand these great works of literature and their relevance to humankind. These three lecture series would be a great first step for anyone wishing to read The Iliad, The Odyssey, and/or The Aeneid but who feels intimidated by them.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elizabeth Vandiver has fast become one of my favorite Great Courses lecturers. She has a gift for walking the reader through very complex subjects and bringing out the richness of great works of literature. This time she looks at Virgil’s Aeneid, one of the most important epic poems in the western canon. She not only shows the brilliance of the poem and its tributes to the great epics of Homer, she helps the reader understand just why it was so important to Romans and to the societies that follow them. She makes me want to reread the epic thirty plus years after I first enjoyed it.

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.

[Andrés · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Vandiver is very knowledgeable and presents the topics in a very entertaining and engaging manner. I really cannot conceive anymore reading these books without this kind of support. The richness of the experience grows incalculably.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provided excellent context and information about The Aeneid while I was reading it.

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The highest complement I can pay this lectures series is that it made me want to reread a book I did not like the first time I read it. Her expository teaching style mostly works very well, though I enjoyed the three introductory lectures and the two summary lectures more. The reason I stop at four stars is Vandiver's obnoxious belief that inconsistencies in the story may be (are) an indication that a character is lying instead of inconsistency on the part of the author. This is reading an ancient text with modern eyes. If Virgil (or Shakespeare and others) wanted us to think a character is lying, he (they) would have made that clear. I get annoyed every time this is asserted, and so I became annoyed several times during these lectures.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I somehow had never read the Aeneid so I decided to fix this oversight. I however realized going in cold turkey would of been senseless so I decided to read this in conjunction with me reading the poem And Im glad I did this course gave me a lot of insight that I would of missed in an epic such as this. It helped focus my attention on things I would of definitely missed if I had just read it without this course. Worth the listen if you are interested in one of the great works of literature.

[Elwin Kline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This closes out and completes my goal of obtaining a better understanding of the Iliad, Odyssey, and now the Aeneid.

Reading the original translated text into English today was very difficult for me, as it comes with a lot of assumed knowledge and reads very much so like 'hardcore fantasy' with all the gods and goddesses so on and so forth. I gave them an honest effort and they were just too unenjoyable for me and I decided to opt for these skillfully done Great Courses to at least be exposed to the material and achieve my goal of obtaining a better understanding of these classics.

Between the three, this was 2nd best in my opinion, with the Odyssey being a strong first and the Iliad being my least liked.

Dr. Vandiver has done a wonderful job on all three of this and I respect her dedication and commitment to these 3,000 year old Epics that have survived the test of time and still being reviewed to this day. Amazing is putting it lightly.

The 3/5 rating reflects my personal interest and enjoyment level of the Aeneid itself, not Dr. Vandiver's product. If I was rating her analysis, breakdown, and very well spoken and organized performance I would have absolutely nothing negative to say and give her a solid 5/5.

[Jeff Keehr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been aware of The Aeneid for decades but have never been curious enough to read it. So I thought I would listen to a lecture on the book to see if that might motivate me to take the plunge. But I remain on the fence. Professor Vandiver says at one point that the book is one of the foundation texts in all of Western Literature. But the story still does not interest me all that much. I have little patience for gods and goddesses and these early texts are full of them. I did learn a few things along the way. The Aeneid is all about how Rome was founded. Aeneas was a Trojan at the time of the mythic Greek/Trojan was but he managed to escape before Troy was sacked by the Greeks, who used the Trojan Horse to get the upper hand. Virgil models his epic on the Greek epics of Homer.

[Emir October · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no way for anyone to enjoy the Aeneid with full extent unless this lecture was heard rather than even being read. Professor Elizabeth give you the right emotion of each chapter with every step with her own voice to make you understand what are you reading and how it must be felt. going to the underworld chapter was one of the greatest explanations I ever heard. even for someone not as interested in old literature or old history gonna enjoy this ride so greatly just for sake of the way Elizabeth presents the subject. Absolutely 5 stars deserved and I wish Wundrum get it remastered in the near future.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many thanks to my friend Ryan who lent me this series of lectures when he saw that I had started The Aeneid.

This is a series of 12 lectures covering 6 hours. Dr. Vandiver spends the first three lectures on introduction, after which the next seven lectures cover the actual text of the poem and the final two lectures are wrap up and conclusion.

Her style is very engaging and she provides several scholarly insights. This series of lectures really helped me to both understand and appreciate the Aeneid.

[YouMo Mi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this intermittently while going through the Aeneid (also on audiobook). Vandiver is an excellent teacher and her lectures are so insightful and clear, I’d imagine even if you haven’t read the material, you will gain a lot of knowledge and food for thought just listening to her analysis. A primary reason why I even finished the Aeneid (which I consider inferior to the Homer epics, especially the second half) was so I could fully enjoy Vandiver’s lectures on the last few books.

[Neeraja Sankaran · Rating 4 out of 5]

This lecture series was a great companion / guide to the Aeneid. The lecturer gave important signposts without spoon-feeding the work to the readers or prospective readers. I was especially struck by the final lecture, when she said she gets the shudders when she thinks what a loss it would have been has Vergil's wishes been honored and the manuscript burned, rather than Augustus rescuing it. So now I know a bit more about Dante's guide in the Underworld and Purgatory.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would like to compliment Professor Vandiver for her valiant efforts to make the Aeneid seem interesting. She did a great job and almost succeeded. For that, she deserves four stars and a bouquet. At least I can provide the stars. With her help, I got more out of this really long poem than I could’ve hoped to have done otherwise.

So now, at last, I leave behind Roman’s great national epic for all those Romans, ancient and modern, who have loved it so much. It's all yours.

[Dastaan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would say if you have an Audible subscription and you are at all intersected in Greek and Roman mythology, don’t miss any of Elizabeth Vandiver’s courses. It would be great if you read Aeneid before hand, or as the course goes forwards. I learned a lot and she answers many of my questions about the epic. I’m afraid her pace might be too fast for a person who doesn’t know much about the Aeneid or Greek myths and Iliad/odyssey. But you can always return and listen again

[Doug Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this because I figured I’d get more out of the course than just the epic itself. It was quick, pretty informative and at times even illuminating, and with good narration. Give how important context and history are in understanding the classics, this was a worthwhile purchase.

[Aaron Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Greek culture influences on Roman culture…
Greek settlers in southern Italy
Art
Literature
Religion—mythology
Greeks considered culturally superior
Also looked down on Greeks for being less warlike, rugged, virtuous, strong, manly.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

Haven’t read the poem yet, but this was a fantastic way to get introduced! I did not like the Iliad, but perhaps if I had done a lecture on it first I would have understood what was going on and known why to care!

Give this a listen before the Poem if you haven’t read it yet!

[JR Snow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another superb Great Courses series by Dr. Vandiver. I've listened to her series on the Odyssey as well, which is more detailed, but less philosophical than this one. Both are great in their own ways. I wish she would have discussed the controversial ending more (on the killing of Turnus).

[Josh Ens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic introduction to the Aeneid; my only complaint is that, due to its length, the lectures were very much only an introduction. I would have enjoyed a much longer series by Vandiver.

Read in part to prepare for upcoming teaching topic in A Classics class.

[Carolyn Deboer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trying to read the Divine Comedy and found I needed to understand Virgil and "The Aeneid" as Virgil is the guide through Hell and Purgatory. Instructor and narrator did a very good job or summarizing all the key points and their significance to other works and even modern life.

[Tom Baikin-O'hayon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and interesting, after this I had to run and read the book again.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need 200 more lectures from Elizabeth Vandiver please.

[Walter Bowne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little much summary (which helped a lot), but not enough analysis. But we're talking The Aeneid. Depth of character... not there. So not really Dr. Vandiver's fault.