Virgil

About Virgil

Virgil, or Publius Vergilius Maro (-70 to -19 BCE), was a foundational poet of the Roman Empire whose influence shaped Western literature for millennia. His epic poem, the Aeneid, tells the mythological story of Aeneas, a Trojan hero who traveled to Italy and became the ancestor of the Romans, effectively serving as Rome’s national epic. This profound contribution to culture, mythology, and political identity secures his ranking at #196 by MIT's Pantheon project, placing him among the most historically significant figures globally.

In the modern context, Virgil's historical importance contrasts with his current digital visibility. He garnered 613K Wikipedia views in 2025. This figure is notably comparable to that of Rumi, another writer with an HPI Rank of #286, who achieved 1.1M views, suggesting a significant underrepresentation compared to a near-contemporary literary giant. Furthermore, his Attention Gap ratio is approximately 1x, indicating his internet attention is currently proportional to his-already modest, given his rank-historical importance, unlike many others who significantly over- or under-perform.

However, there is a downward trend to note: Virgil's viewership experienced a year-over-year decline of -23.8%, and his momentum from Q1 to Q3 2025 dropped by -26%. This indicates that while his online attention is presently stable relative to his historical weight, the general trend suggests waning digital curiosity for this classical writer.