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How many books are in Virgil’s Aeneid?

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Ancient Roman mosaic showing the poet Virgil seated and writing, flanked by the muses Clio and Melpomene, displayed in a decorative border. — Virgil Virgil (centre) holding a scroll with a quotation from the *Aeneid* and flanked by the muses Clio and Melpomene, mosaic, early 3rd century ce; in the Bardo National Museum, Tunis, Tunisia.

Virgil’s Aeneid is organized into 12 books.1

The epic poem, written between 30 and 19 BCE, chronicles the legendary journey of the Trojan hero Aeneas and his role in the founding of Rome. The first six books detail Aeneas's travels following the fall of Troy, while the final six books describe the war fought upon his arrival in Italy.12