This story recounts the fascinating tale of Aeneas, the legendary ancestor of Romulus, who escaped from the burning city of Troy and wandered the Mediterranean for years before settling in Italy. His adventures onece arriving in Latium are no less interesting since he must fight the jealous suitor Turnus for the hand of the princess Lavinia. Patterned after the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Aeneid was described in an epic poem by Virgil to glorify the imperial city of Rome.