Virgil

Publius Vergilius Maro (October 15, 70 BC–19 BC), known in English as Virgil or Vergil, is a Latin poet, the author of the Eclogues, the Georgics and the Aeneid, the last being an epic poem of twelve books that became the Roman Empire's national epic.

Later views of Virgil

Even as the Roman world collapsed, literate men acknowledged that the Christianized Virgil was a master poet, even when they ceased to read him. Gregory of Tours read Virgil and some other Latin poets, though he cautions us that "We ought not to relate their lying fables, lest we fall under sentence of eternal death." Surviving medieval collections of manuscripts containing Virgil's works include the Vergilius Augusteus, the Vergilius Vaticanus and the Vergilius Romanus.

Related Topics:
Gregory of Tours - Vergilius Augusteus - Vergilius Vaticanus - Vergilius Romanus

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Dante made Virgil his guide to Hell and Purgatory in The Divine Comedy. Vergil is also the name of a video game character in the Devil May Cry series, which contains many references to the Divine Comedy.

Related Topics:
Dante - Hell - Purgatory - The Divine Comedy - Vergil - Video game - Devil May Cry

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Virgil is still considered one of the greatest of the Latin poets, and the Aeneid is a fixture of most classical studies programs.

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Mysticism and hidden meanings

In the Middle Ages, Virgil was considered a herald of Christianity for his Eclogue 4 verses ({{perseus|Verg.|Ecl.|4}}) concerning the birth of a boy, which were re-read to prophesy Jesus' nativity. The poem may actually refer to the pregnancy of Octavian's wife Scribonia, who in fact gave birth to a girl.

Related Topics:
Middle Ages - Christianity - Jesus - Scribonia

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Also during the Middle Ages, as Virgil developed into a kind of magus or wizard, manuscripts of the Aeneid were used for divinatory bibliomancy, the Sortes Virgilianae, in which a line would be selected at random and interpreted in the context of a current situation (Compare the ancient Chinese I Ching). The Old Testament was sometimes used for similar arcane purposes. Even in the Welsh myth of Taliesin, the goddess Cerridwen is reading from the "Book of Pheryllt"—that is, Virgil.

Related Topics:
Magus - Wizard - Divinatory - Bibliomancy - Sortes Virgilianae - I Ching - Welsh myth - Taliesin - Cerridwen

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More recently, professor Jean-Yves Maleuvre has proposed that Virgil wrote the Aeneid using a "double writing" system, in which the first, superficial writing was intended for national audience and Augustus' needs, while the second one, deeper and hidden, unnoticed before Maleuvre discovered it, reflected Virgil's true point of view and his true historical reconstruction of the past. Maleuvre also believes that Augustus had Virgil murdered. Maleuvre's ideas have not met with general acceptance.

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Virgil's tomb

The tomb known as "Virgil's tomb" is found at the entrance of Posilippo Cave (also known as "grotta vecchia") in the Parco di Virgilio a Piedigrotta, located in the Piedigrotta district two miles from old Naples, on the road heading north along the coast to Pozzuoli. The site called Parco Virgiliano is some distance further north along the coast. While Virgil was already the object of literary admiration and veneration before his death, in the following centuries his name became associated with miraculous powers, his tomb the destination of pilgrimages and pagan veneration. The poet himself was said to have created the cave with the fierce power of his intense gaze.

Related Topics:
Virgil's tomb - Posilippo Cave - Parco di Virgilio a Piedigrotta - Naples - Pozzuoli

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It is said that the Chiesa della Santa Maria di Piedigrotta was erected by Church authorities to neutralize this pagan adoration and "Christianize" the site. The tomb, however, is a tourist attraction, and still sports a tripod burner originally dedicated to Apollo, bearing witness to the continued allure of hinted dark powers and bizarre mysteries.

Related Topics:
Christianize - Apollo

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