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eet Aeneas, prototypical hero and protagonist of Virgil’s Aeneid. He was also the progenitor of the mighty Romans.

On a cruise around the Mediterranean aboard the 114-passenger, all-suite Corinthian II, we follow in his very large footsteps in Italy, Tunisia, Greece, and Turkey to see what he was all about.

Please join us.

First-rate lecturers accompany us on our bid to know not only our man, Aeneas, but also the great civilizations that once ruled the region. Donald White, our host, was a professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania and is now an Explorers Club lecturer. He is joined by Kristina Milnor, a Classics professor at Barnard College who has authored a book on the role of women in the age of Augustus and has consulted on the HBO/BBC series “Rome”. Francesca Schironi, a Classics professor at Harvard, is an expert on ancient scholarship and literary criticism. She has written several publications on these topics.

We begin in Istanbul, Turkey. Embark the Corinthian II, and we’re off to Troy, realm of Aeneas.

Delos, sacred island of ancient Greece, is next. Here the oracle of Apollo and Artemis spoke to our hero, directing him to the original land of the Trojans.

On nearby Syros, sit down to a private concert in the newly rehabbed Apollon Theatre, an opera house modeled after Milan’s La Scala.

Crete, Greece’s largest island, was home to the Trojans until a plague drove Aeneas and his people out. We’ve come to see King Minos’s labyrinthine palace at Knossos, an incredible place that speaks volumes about the sophistication of the Minoans.

Nikopolis, on the Greek mainland, was Augustus’s celebratory gesture after his victory over Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Close by are the fourth-century B.C. ruins of Kassope.

Sicily calling. Specifically Syracuse, once a powerful city and, legend has it, home to the Cyclops. Like Odysseus, our hero made the mistake of going ashore... One-eyed monsters aside, we come for the 15,000-seat Greek theater and its Roman counterpart as well as treasures in the Regional Archaeological Museum.

Disembark in Istanbul, and head home, or join us for a post-cruise, one-night stay in this fabled city.

Across the briny to Tunisia. In Carthage, Aeneas fell for Queen Dido, but alas, he would abandon her for his mission. Hell hath not fury like a woman scorned. Explore the Phoenician and Roman remains of this ninth-century B.C. city. The excellent Bardo Museum here is de rigueur.

Back to Sicily, where Aeneas and company took refuge after the vengeful goddess Juno sent a vicious storm their way. Just as they did, we drop anchor in Trapani (ancient Drepanum). In Erice, our next destination, Aeneas’s parents wed. And in Segesta (circa 424 B.C.), the Greeks left behind wonderful Doric structures.

To the Italian mainland. Dock in Naples for forays into the Phlegrean Field, the caves of Cumae, and Pompeii.

Fly home from Naples, Aeneas still in your head (and now your heart).

Journey of Aeneas. Retracing “The Aeneid” Through the Mediterranean. 12 Days.