Historically, Virgil's Aeneid has ranked among the greatest books composed in the literature of any tongue whatsoever. The idea of "epic poetry" in many minds around the world includes other greats such as Homer, Dante, Milton, Lord Byron (Don Juan), Edmund Spenser, Luis de Camõis (The Lusiads), Elias Lönnrot (The Kalevala, the Finnish epic poem compiled by Mr. Lonnrot in the 19th century). In the American English translation of Robert Fagles, readers unfamiliar with Latin will find perhaps a fresh perspective of Virgil's Roman/Italian national epic.