Virgil wrote the Aeneid just after the end of the Roman Republic though, under Augustus. Don’t know what the Republic proper thought about themselves on the subject. How well known was that myth before him?
Fairly well known, actually. It’s actually why Augustus commissioned the Aeneid; he wanted to tie himself to the existing myth as a way to justify his rule.
Virgil wrote the Aeneid just after the end of the Roman Republic though, under Augustus. Don’t know what the Republic proper thought about themselves on the subject. How well known was that myth before him?
Fairly well known, actually. It’s actually why Augustus commissioned the Aeneid; he wanted to tie himself to the existing myth as a way to justify his rule.