Aeneas: Why was he so important to the Romans & their identity?

This lesson seeks to explain, despite the existence of the Romulus and Remus Foundation Myth, that Aeneas remains an important figure for Romans in terms of the founding of their city. (It does also at the end explain how Romans got from Aeneas to Romulus story-wise!)

There are 3 short storyboard tasks, already filled with text (included as slides ready to print within the PowerPoint) which students need only draw quick images for. These are presented at 3 different points in the lesson in order to quickly get across the main parts of Aeneas’ story after his escape from Troy.

I have really only tried to include events which directly pertain to or foreshadow the founding of Rome - it was impossible to include everything!

In between these, scholarship is used in an accessible way (including one comprehension with a glossary for difficult to understand terms) to draw out the importance of Aeneas to the Romans, but also what his actions tell us about how the Romans saw themselves and their new emperor Augustus (Virgil was writing at the time of the new Imperial Age).

This lesson is designed to be engaging and academic in its approach, with appropriate support and challenge throughout to support all learners, but also to ‘teach to the top’ wherever possible.