VERGIL

A famed Roman poet from the first century BC. His most famous work is the epic Aeneid, which relates the story of Aeneas as he sails from Greece and founds Rome. The early chroniclers used material from Aeneid to form their story of Aeneas and his son, Brutus, the founder of Britain.

Wolfram von Eschenbach, who uses metaphors from Aeneid heavily, says that Vergil “of Naples” was the maternal uncle of the sorcerer Clinschor, whose enchantments challenge Gawain Parzival. Vergil was the subject of numerous legends in the Middle Ages—most of them false—which are reflected in Wolfram’s Clinschor character. Wolfram’s assertion that Vergil was from Naples is only marginally accurate: he probably studied in Naples, and may have written part of his Georgics there.