The Aeneid is an epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It comprises 9,896 lines in dactylic hexameter. The first six of the poems twelve books tell the story of Aeneass wanderings from Troy to Italy, and the poems second half tells of the Trojans ultimately victorious war upon the Latins, under whose name Aeneas and his Trojan followers are destined to be subsumed.