Low Ham Roman Villa large 14 foot (4.3m) square mosaic from the floor of the "frigidarium" depicts the story of Aeneas and Dido, as told in the 1st century BC by the Roman poet, Virgil. Like the villa, it dates to the mid-4th century. The Low Ham mosaic is unique in Roman Britain in providing a narrative story in five panels. First is a scene of Aeneas sailing to Carthage, with Achates lifting from a ship the crown described as a gift to Dido in "Aeneid" Book I. The next shows Aeneas meeting Dido, with his son Ascanius and his mother Venus. There follow
Virgil from which Rome would emerge. The "Aeneid"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s first six books describe the journey of Aeneas from Troy to Rome. Virgil made use of several models in the composition of his epic; Homer, the preeminent author of classical epic, is everywhere present, but Virgil also makes special use of the Latin poet Ennius and the Hellenistic poet Apollonius of Rhodes among the various other writers to which he alludes. Although the "Aeneid" casts itself firmly into the epic mode, it often seeks to expand the genre by including elements of other genres such as tragedy and aetiological poetry. Ancient commentators noted