Thread by @SeanBerube4

One myth shaped the soul of Western Civilization

It inspired Rome, England, Charlemagne — even the American Founders

Dante modeled The Divine Comedy on it too

Here’s the myth behind the greatest minds and dynasties of the West…🧵

Virgil’s Aeneid is the myth behind the empires

Written in 19BC, it follows Aeneas — a survivor of the Trojan War from Homer’s Iliad

Aeneas has a special destiny from the gods:

If he follows their bidding, he’ll found a grand empire

Aeneas’ adventure is a classic hero’s journey, like Homer’s Odyssey

What makes it special, however, is Aeneas’ piety:

Most heroes of antiquity were motivated by selfish glory

Aeneas, however, was motivated by selfless duty — honor the gods and his men

Aeneas travels the world, descends into hell itself, and becomes a war hero

Though the myth is incomplete — Virgil died before finishing it — its implied Aeneas succeeds

He lands in Italy and founds a new civilization — Rome itself

So Rome claims the Aeneid as its founding myth

But they’re not the only ones

All the West’s great empires — England, Charlemagne, etc. — claim lineage to Aeneas

Why connect themselves with this myth?

For one, claiming Trojan ancestry brought legitimacy to your empire:

It tied you to the noble, heroic past, rooted in Homeric tradition

The Trojan people were seen as noble sufferers, in contrast to their pillaging Greek rivals

But there’s more

Aeneas’ piety quite literally changed world history

His selfless honor and duty established a Roman identity

It implied that a higher moral order guided their history:

A stark contrast to the pillaging Greeks of the Iliad, seen as morally ambiguous

In other words, the Aeneid implied Rome’s founding was divine destiny

And any empire that claimed lineage to Aeneas could claim the same:

“We derive legitimacy from our ancestor — Pious Aeneas

God is on our side”

Even the American Founding Fathers took inspiration from the Aeneid

Rome’s republican ideals of duty, sacrifice, and destiny were instrumental to the American experiment…

But the Aeneid didn’t just build empires, but geniuses too:

Dante’s Divine Comedy is the greatest poem of all time

And Virgil is the guide, mentor, and hero of the story’s protagonist

He was Dante’s hero, and a key character in the poem, and a huge source of inspiration behind Dante’s life

The point is this:

It was Aeneas’ piety that inspired the greatest minds and empires of the West

His story teaches that selfless obedience to the divine leads you to your destiny and brings prosperity to mankind

Your true life begins when you serve the higher moral order beyond you

Destiny calls everyone to lose their lives in loving service to the Good

Learn to play your part well, and providence comes to your side

You build the piety that quite literally inspires empires

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