The main character in the poem is the Trojan hero Aeneas. Following the defeat of his people by the Greeks and the fall of his city at the end of the Trojan War, Aeneas leads a group of followers away from Troy, in search of a location where they can set up a new Trojan colony. Aeneas and his followers eventually arrive in Italy. His descendants go on to found the city of Rome. Reading the Aeneid was once considered a part of any well educated person's studies in some places.