Aeneid

How many lemmata (dictionary headwords) does one have to master to read Latin comfortably? In the case of Vergil's Aeneid and Caesar's Gallic War the answer to this question can be represented as a graph, thanks to data collected by LASLA in a human inspetion and parsing of these texts. The graph here represents the percentage of all lemmata in the works which is accounted for by the top 1000 most frequent lemmata in those texts (excluding proper names). Knowing the 20 most frequent lemmata, along with the rules of Latin morphology, the reader will recognize 20% of word forms in the Aeneid and 28% of those in the Gallic War. Knowing 100 frequent lemmata, the reader will recognize 38% of word forms in the Aeneid and 52% of those in the Gallic War. The top 1,000 lemmata account for 81% and 91% of word forms, respectively).The LASLA data were analyzed by Seth Levin and Connor Ford. The visualization was produced by Seth Levin and Connor Ford using Excel. 

How many lemmata (dictionary headwords) does one have to master to read Latin comfortably? In the case of Vergil's Aeneid and Caesar's Gallic War the answer to this question can be represented as a graph, thanks to data collected by LASLA in a human inspetion and parsing of these texts. The graph here represents the percentage of all lemmata in the works which is accounted for by the top 100 most frequent lemmata in those texts (excluding proper names). Knowing the 20 most frequent lemmata, along with the rules of Latin morphology, the reader will recognize 20% of word forms in the Aeneid and 28% of those in the Gallic War. Knowing 100 frequent lemmata, the reader will recognize 38% of word forms in the Aeneid and 52% of those in the Gallic War. Another graph represents the same figures for the top 1,000 lemmata (81% and 91% respectively).The LASLA data were analyzed by Seth Levin and Connor Ford. The visualization was produced by Seth Levin and Connor Ford using Excel. 

The most frequent non-core lemmata (dictionary headwords) in Vergil's Aeneid, including proper names. The data derives from human inspection and parsing of the Aeneid carried out by LASLA. The data were analyzed and collated with the DCC Core Latin Vocabulary by Lara Frymark, Seth Levin, and Connor Ford. The visualization was produced by Seth Levin using Tableau. See full data here.

The most frequent lemmata (dictionary headwords) in Vergil's Aeneid, excluding proper names. The data derives from human inspection and parsing of the Aeneid carried out by LASLA. The data were analyzed and collated with the DCC Core Latin Vocabulary by Lara Frymark, Seth Levin, and Connor Ford. The visualization was produced by Seth Levin using Tableau. In the Aeneid, the only non-core lemma present in the top eighty is the interjection O. See full data here.

Sketchbook drawing by Claude Lorraine: Coast scene with Aeneas hunting, illustration from Virgil's 'Aeneid', I, 158-93, translated by Annibale Caro, record of painting in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Brussels from the Liber Veritatis; in foreground Aeneas and Achates hunting a herd of deer, beyond at left the Trojan fleet in a harbour. 1672 Pen and brown ink and grey wash, with grey-brown wash (British Museum)

Latium as described in Aeneid Book 1, and significant peoples around the region.

Ancient coastline and elevation data supplied by the Ancient World Mapping Center.

On the right, one of the Dirae, the Dread Ones, appearing as a bird, specifically an owl, flies around the head of Turnus, filling him with fear (843-68). Aeneas pursues Turnus with his large spear, and Turnus holds a massive rock which he attempts to throw at Aeneas (895-914). In the upper left, Juturna sees the owl by Turnus's head and knows it is a sign that Turnus will die (869-84). Grieving, she sinks down into her river (885-6). On the left, Aeneas has hit Turnus with his spear and kneels over the Rutulian hero (919-27). Turnus begs for mercy (929-39), which Aeneas almost grants. Then Aeneas sees the belt of Pallas (940-4) which, in this image, Turnus wears around his waist, and he plunges his sword into the chest of Turnus.

Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 408v, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.

In the fighting ring, Aeneas struggles to retrieve his spear from the stump of an olive tree (766-76). Turnus prays to Faunus, to whom the tree was sacred, to delay Aeneas's success in obtaining the spear until he himself is armed (776-9). Above this scene, Jupiter confronts Juno, who watches Turnus from the clouds (791-806). She agrees to stop thwarting Aeneas and helping Turnus as long as the victory of Aeneas does not create a new Troy, but instead a stronger Latium (808-42). In this image, the artist has placed the fighting ring right at the edge of the water, though other images do not show it anywhere near the water, and Vergil makes it clear that the fighting happens on a large plain. The water may be intended to enhance the fenced-in feeling of the ring itself.

Woodcut illustration from the “Strasbourg Vergil,” edited by Sebastian Brant: Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera cum quinque vulgatis commentariis expolitissimisque figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant superadditis (Strasbourg: Johannis Grieninger, 1502), fol. 407v, executed by an anonymous engraver under the direction of Brant.