Vergil sends Aeneas on a fantastic journey between imaginary homelands: a Troy that no longer stands, a Rome that does not yet exist. Even the Rome revealed to us through prophecy, , and divine decree does not seem recognizable. Who was Aeneas: exile or immigrant, refugee or colonizer? What can he tell us about Roman identity? What role does Vergil’s personal experience play in his poetry?
Vergil’s Aeneid, one of the great foundation myths, primarily highlights the importance of migration by recounting the journey of the Trojan race to found Rome. Vergil presents the theme of movement in several other instances, including Carthaginian migration and mythological models for Aeneas’ story. This site presents evidence from the Aeneid and secondary literature to explore these themes. Together, students in a Colby College Latin class created this website to present their original research and share their vision of an ancient migration story that has echoed across time and space, from ancient Rome to modern day America.