Vergilius Vaticanus

This manuscript on parchment, incompletely preserved, is one of the oldest illustrated codices to have survived at all. Written in Latin, it contains fragments of the Georgics, a poem about rural life, and The Aeneid, a verse epic describing the origins of the Roman nation The author is Publius Vergilius Maro (Virgil, 70-19 B.C.). Out of the original c. 280 miniatures 50 have survived.

In content and form the manuscript is the product of a kind of pagan renaissance in the midst of a world converted to Christianity.

On folio 40 recto the scene shows one of the most important events in The Aeneid, the dramatic suicide of Queen Dido. The Carthaginian queen, deserted by the Trojan hero Aeneas, is reclining on a bed or divan beneath which an immense pyre is in readiness.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 9 minutes): Henry Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Dido's Farewell