In Book I of the Aeneid, Aeneas is shipwrecked on the coast of North Africa, near where the Phoenician queen Dido is building a city that will become Carthage. Aeneas and Dido meet. Their doomed love is set against Aeneas' destiny as founding father of Rome.

Edited by Keith Maclennan, this volume makes Virgil's work more accessible to today's students, by setting it in its literary and historical context and taking account of the most recent scholarship and critical approaches to Virgil. The edition includes a full introduction which covers Virgil's life and writings, his literary predecessors, a summary of the epic poem's plot, an exploration of Rome, Carthage and Dido's role, explanation of the metre, and some notes on translating and reading the poem.

As well as the introduction, the volume contains the original Latin text, in-depth annotation to explain language and content, a glossary and a comprehensive vocabulary list.