Publius Vergilius Maro, known as Virgil, was Rome's greatest poet and the author of the Aeneid, the national epic of Rome. Born near Mantua in northern Italy, he lived during the transition from the Roman Republic to the Empire under Augustus. Through his poetry-especially the Eclogues, Georgics, and Aeneid-Virgil gave Rome a sacred history that joined duty, piety, and destiny. Revered by later generations as both poet and prophet, he taught that true greatness lies not in conquest, but in the ordered soul and the civilization shaped by divine purpose.