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Aeneas is the main hero in this Roman epic. After the fall of Troy, Aeneas escapes and leads a fleet to found Rome. Juno (Hera from Greek), convinces Aeolus, god of winds, to stop them. Neptune saves them and they eventually wind up on the shores of Northern Africa, specifically Carthage.
Dido is the Queen of Carthage and her and Aeneas fall madly in love. They live together for several years when the gods remind Aeneas of his duty to found Rome. He leaves and Dido kills herself by building a pyre out of the stuff he left. She stabs herself with a sword he left behind and burns.
Aeneas' son, Anchises, dies. Bad weather once again blows the fleet to Sicily. They stop to mourn Anchises and hold funeral games. Aeneas is visited in a dream by his dead father, which spurs him back into action.
The women of the voyage try to burn the ships out of weariness, but rains stops them from being destroyed.
Aeneas enters the underworld to consult with his father. He is shown all the Roman heroes that are to come in the future, which reinvigorates him on his quest to found Rome.
They sail to Latium where everything is fine for awhile. King Latinus believes his daughter is prohecized to marry Aeneas. Amata, the Queen, wants her to marry Turnus. So, she and Turnus begin to sow enmity towards the Trojans. When one of the Torjans kills a local herdsmen's pet stag, Turnus sues it as an opportunity to wage war against Aeneas and the Trojans.
Aeneas consults Tiberinus and sails up the Tiber river to try to rally troops from the locals. His mother, the god Venus, has Vulcan forge weapons for Aeneas. This is an intervention of the gods at this point.
