Writer names dates works

Question 1

Polybius

Answer 1

(200 - 123 BC)

Polybius

Polybius (c. 203? - 120 BC) was a Greek historian and influential politician of the Achaean League prior to Roman influence. Against local Greek and Macedonian interests in the Macedonian Wars, Polybius was deported and went to Rome.

While in Rome he became a patron of such people as Aemilius Paullus and the Scipio family where he developed a great appreciation for Roman culture and power. In this arrangement, Polybius began his great work of history covering the Mediterranean world between the years 220 and 146 BC. Of the 40 book epic, only 5 have survived intact, but large fragments of others are still available.

Polybius was a meticulous researcher and his work shows a great deal of unbiased accuracy. Of particular importance is his treatment on the Punic Wars.

Works:
The Histories

Question 2

Arrian

Answer 2

Flavius Arrianus) (96 - 180 AD)

Arrian

Flavius Arrianus lived the better part of the 2nd century AD, born around 96 and died near 175 AD. He was governor of Cappadocia under Emperor Hadrian and in A.D. 134 repulsed an invasion of the Alans. His chief work is the Anabasis, the prime extant source on Alexander the Great.

The Anabasis relies chiefly on the writings of two of Alexander’s generals (Ptolemy I and Aristobulus) for source material. Other extant works include the Indica (an account of a voyage of Alexander’s general Nearchus to India).

His works on Alexander are some of the oldest surviving sources on the Macedonian conqueror.

Works:
 Anabasis Alexandri (The Campaigns of Alexander)

Indica (India)

Question 2

Eutropius

Answer 2

(Flavius Eutropius) (4th century AD)

Flavius Eutropius

Eutropius (not to be confused with Eutropius the Eunuch), was a pagan historian who once served as magister memoriae at Constantinople in the Eastern Roman Empire under Valens, and went with him on his Persian campaign.

Little else is known of the man other than the fact that he wrote a Compendium of Roman History that covers the history of the Romans up to 364 AD. Mostly dependant on secondary sources, it helps fill in some gaps in the histories and is suprisingly concise and free from literary embellishment.

“Nero attempted no conquest in the military way, and very nearly lost Britain. Under him two very famous towns were there taken and destroyed”
This article was provided by forum member Favonius Cornelius

Works:
Breviarium

Question 3

Eusebius

Answer 3

260 - 339 AD)

Eusebius

Eusebius (260 - 339 AD) was an early Christian scholar and priest in the church at Caesarea. His mentor Pamphilius was an ardent disciple of Origen and Eusebius became deeply influenced by the Origenist tradition. His major work was his History of the Church, a massive piece of research that preserves quotations from many older writers that would otherwise have been lost.

It covers the foundation of the Christian church from the time of Christ through the end of Eusbius’ own life during the reign of Constantine. Despite the value of his work most scholars agree that his literary work is subpar.

Works:
History of the Church

Question 3

Lucian

Answer 3

120 - 180 AD)

Lucian

Lucianus of Samosata (c. 120 - 180 AD) was among the greatest of Roman satirists, but also wrote poems, rhetoric and biographies. He is best known though for his ‘Dialogues’ which give a satirical approach to Roman mythology.

Other works were also particularly influential including ‘The True History, which shaped later writers such as Rabelais and Swift. Another work, ‘The Passing of Peregrinus’ is one of the earliest surviving works depicting pagan attitudes towards Christians.

Works:
Dialogues of the Gods
Dialogues of the Dead
The Passing of Peregrinus
The True History

Attributed to over 80 works, but some seem to be unlikely or incorrect attributions

Question 3

Seneca

Answer 3

Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (4 BC - 65 AD)

Seneca

Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the younger (3 BC - 65 AD) was Roman philosopher, dramatist, and statesman of the highest order. After studying rhetoric and philosophy he became famous as an orator and served as a full member of the Senate. He was exiled by Claudius due to relations with his niece Julia, but was recalled within a decade.

He was the tutor of the young future emperor Nero, and upon his accession, virtually ruled the empire along with Afranius Burrus. The emergence of Nero’s wife Poppeia, changed the court arrangements and it wasn’t long before Seneca was the subject of imperial scorn. Despite attempts to retire to private life and focus on writing, accusations of conspiracy forced the brilliant statesman to commit suicide in 65 AD.

Works:
Epistolae morales ad Lucilium (Letters from a Stoic)
Quaestiones naturals (Questions on Nature)
Dialogi (Dialogue)
De Elementia
De Beneficis
Apocolocyntosis(a Claudian Satire)

The Tragedies:
Hercules Furens, Medea, Troades, Phaedra, Agamemnon, Oedipus, Hercules Oetaeus, Phoenissae, and Thyestes

Question 4

Catullus

Answer 4

(87 - 54 BC)

Catullus and the Neoteroi

Gaius Valerius Catullus lived in interesting times. Born around 84 BCE and deceased sometime after 55 BCE (both dates as best as scholars can determine), those three decades witnessed the upheaval of the Republic in a political sense. For Catullus’ childhood saw the dictatorship of Sulla and its proscriptions, and his death occurred at the height of the first Triumvirate. The groundwork had been lain for the subsequent civil wars that would end with empire and pseudo-monarchy. But Catullus was not especially a creature of war and politics - and this fact alone ushered in a new era of Roman culture. Catullus himself helped inaugurate the death and rebirth of old Roman culture under the auspices of increasing Hellenization.

Catullus was the son of a landed family from the provinces - in his case Verona in the Venetian lands of Cisalpine Gaul. Perhaps of Illyrian extraction, the Veneti lived a life of commerce and horse breeding on fertile plains. They resisted both Celts and Etruscans to become a staunch ally of Rome against Gaul and Carthage. By 89 BCE they likely had Latin rights and would receive full citizenship a generation later.

Question 5

Apuleius

Answer 5

(Lucius Apuleius) (125 - 171 AD)

Lucius Apuleius

A Romanized Berber of the provincial aristocracy in Madura Africa, he was a gifted lawyer, travelling lecturer and an opponent of Chirstianity.

His literary interests involved mystical religions, magic and philosophy. What survives are his Apologia, a defense of himself against accusations of practicing magic, the Florida, a collection of his lectures and philosophical writings, and the Metamorphoses, a popular romance.

Also: De deo Socratis, De dogmate Platonis, De Mundo and his famous Aureus Asinus. His works are a valuable source of social life and the religious trends of the times. “Psyche.lamented her solitary life, and being disquieted both in mind and body, although she pleased all the world, yet hated she in her self her own beauty.”

Question 6

Sallust

Answer 6

Gaius Sallustius Crispus) (86 - 34 BC)

Sallust

Caius Sallustius Crispus (86 - 34 BC) was a Roman historian who was well known for his works detailing very limited events. His style was direct and concise and his biographical treatments are particularly vivid. He was tribune of the people (52 BC) and praetor (46) and an avid supporter of Caesar. He was ejected from the senate in 50 BC, for adultery, but his support of Caesar during the civil war period was likely the main cause.

After his praetorship he served as governor of Numidia where he was accused of using his power for personal gain. Again, this was a likely consequence of supporting Caesar. He has several important works: the History of Rome covered the period between 78 and 67 BC, but unfortunately survives only in fragments. Bellum Catilinae details the Catlinarian Conspiracy and Bellum Jugurthinum is a valuable resource on the Jugurthan war.

Works:
History of Rome (survives in fragments)
Bellum Jugurthinum (War with Jugurtha)
Bellum Catilinae (War with Catiline)

Question 7

Diodorus Siculus

Answer 7

90 - 21 BC)

Diodorus Siculus

Diodorus Siculus was a Sicilian Greek historian who lived from 90 to 21 BC. He wrote, a world history in 40 books, ending it near the time of his death with Caesar’s Gallic Wars. Fully preserved are Books I-V and XI-XX, which cover Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Indian, Scythian, Arabian, and North African history and parts of Greek and Roman history.

His histories, while not considered great scholarly material in their own right, borrowed heavily from other writers whose works are now lost. In this regard, Siculus is valuable as a historical record for those writers who came before him.

Works::
 Bibliotheca Historica (Library of History) (surviving books cover the ancient Egyptian, Assyrians, Ethiopians and Greeks up to about 302 BC)

Question 8

Velleius

Answer 8

Velleius Paterculus) (20 BC - 30 AD)

Velleius Paterculus

Retired army officer from Campania who served extensively in the eastern provinces, his only work is the Compendium of Roman History in two books, the first which survives in small part and the second fully intact. It is a weak, abridged history, very flattering to the aristocracy and worshipful of the imperial family, particularly Tiberius under whom Velleius served.

Most valuable for data on Roman colonies and provincial history. It is speculated that he might have been executed for his support for the ill fated Praetorian Prefect Sejanus.

“Nurtured by the teaching of eminent praeceptors, a youth equipped in the highest degree with the advantages of birth, personal beauty, commanding presence, an excellent education combined with native talents, Tiberius, as quaestor when he was eighteen years old, gave early promise of becoming the great man he now is, and already by his look revealed the prince.”

This article was provided by forum member Favonius Cornelius

Works:
Vellei Paterculi Historiarum Libri Duo

Question 9

Seneca the Elder

Answer 9

(ca.55 Bc- ca.Ad 40)

Seneca the Elder

Seneca the Elder, (?55 Bc-?Ad 40) - Father of the famous philosopher, grandfather of Lucan, Seneca’s equestrian family hailed from Cordoba Spain, though he frequently traveled to Rome to witness the law courts. He also intended on leading the career of advocate and personally did not agree with the flamboyant oratorical styles of his time.

He wrote a collection of Debates and Pleadings composed of eighty-one subjects on criminal, civil and social themes based on hypothetical laws and situations. “There is no great genius without some touch of madness.”
This article was provided by forum member Favonius Cornelius

Works:
Declamations

Question 10

Gellius

Answer 10

Aulus Gellius) (123 - 169 AD

Aulus Gellius

Gellius (123 - 169 AD) was a Latin author who studied grammar, rhetoric and philosophy in the tradition of the Greek scholars. His only work, the Noctes Atticae, takes its name from his time spent in Attica.

It is essentially an unorganized collection of thoughts, notes and essays on subjects as wide ranging as grammar, geometry, philosophy and history. Despite its lack of sequence it is a valuable source on the daily life and social circumstances of the 2nd century AD.

Works:
 Noctes Atticae (Attica Nights)

Question 11

Virgil

Answer 11

(Publius Vergilius Maro) (70 - 19 BC)

Virgil or Vergil

Publius Vergilius Maro (70 BC - 19 BC) is the mostly highly regarded Roman poet. Born in Cisalping Gaul to a farmer, he received the finest education possible to a family of moderate means. He studied first in Cremona, then Milan, Naples and eventually Rome. His rural farm life had a significant impact on his work and his first published pieces, the Eclogues or Bucolics were a testament to rural life. He was an influential member of the Roman literary circle of the Augustan age, and was a contemporary of Maecenas and Augustus himself.

After the Eclogues, Vergil’s writing continued with rural influences but took on a new personality of realism and moral virtue. Georgics, his next work, was an interpretive piece reflecting on the virtues of farm life and its attraction. After 30 BC, Virgil’s career was dedicated to writing one of the most epic pieces in the history of literature. The Aeneid, regarded as a classical masterpiece, influenced writers well into the Middle Ages and stands out as the single most highly regarded Latin poem. It tells the story of Aeneas and the founding of Rome. Woven in with mythological legend and Roman history, the work is covered in 12 total books, written simply but powerful. Unfortunately, Vergil’s death in 19 BC left the Aeneid unfinished, but it still stands as a masterpiece of ancient literature.

Works:
Eclogues
Georgics
Aeneid

Question 12

Lucan

Answer 12

Marcus Annaeus Lucanus) (39 - 65 AD)

Lucan

Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (39 - 65 AD) was a Latin poet born in Córdoba, Spain, and the nephew of the philosopher Seneca. Prominent in the reign of Nero, he was later forced to kill himself when he was discovered to be involved in a plot against the emperor.

Lucan’s poems, though sometimes critized for their severe and somewhat choppy style, provided a significant influence especially to medieval writers. His epic poem Bellum Civile (on the civil war between Caesar and Pompey), also called Pharsilia, was unfinished at his death, and survives in part.

Works:
Bellum Civile (The Civil War) or Pharsalia
(10 books have survived)

Question 13

Caesar

Answer 13

(100 - 44 BC)

Caesar

While the history of Caesar is well documented, on this site and other sources, his contribution as an author is of immense historical value. Caesar meticulously tracked his own campaigns in Gaul and in the Civil War, not only for the historical record, but as propaganda against his political enemies. With his deeds in writing, and available for the populace, the Senate found it impossible to attack Caesar’s popularity with the common people.

Aside from an account of his campaign, “The Conquest of Gaul” is one of the few primary source pieces of literature regarding the tribes and customs of Gallic Celts. The Civil War provides additional in-depth, though biased, analysis of this turbulent time in Roman history.

Works:

Bellum Gallicum (Gallic Wars, or Conquest of Gaul)
 Bellum Civile (The Civil War)

Question 13

Pausanias

Answer 13

2nd Century AD)

Pausanias

Greek traveler and geographer who toured the entirety of the Greek Peloponnesus, his Description of Greece served generally as a tourist guidebook and is useful for information on Greece under the Romans, though certainly is not a great work of literature.

He writes with a particular interest in religious sites and structures down to the smallest details. “Before the entrance to the sanctuary of Olympian Zeus–Hadrian the Roman emperor dedicated the temple and the statue, one worth seeing, which in size exceeds all other statues save the colossi at Rhodes and Rome, and is made of ivory and gold with an artistic skill which is remarkable when the size is taken into account.”
This article was provided by forum member Favonius Cornelius

Works:
Description of Greece

Question 14

Martialis

Answer 14

Marcus Valerius Martialis) (38/41 - 100 AD )

Martialis

Marcus Valerius Martialis - Originally from Bilbilis Spain, this man of Celtiberian stock spent much of his years in Rome as a man of letters and experienced all levels of Roman society, balancing on the edge of poverty and relying on the rich for patronage.

This is seen in his fifteen books Epigrams, a collections of thumbnail sketches of various men, women and customs, providing a very valuable resource for details of common life in Rome during the Flavian period.

For these works he is said to be the father of the modern epigram. He also wrote On the Spectacles to celebrate the Colosseum. “Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.”

This article was provided by forum member Favonius Cornelius

Works:

Epigrams

Question 15

Dionysius of Halicarnassus

Answer 15

(60/55 - 7 BC)

Dionysius of Halicarnassus

Dionysius of Halicarnassus - (60/55 - 7 BC) - He was a Greek teacher of rhetoric and a distinguished literary critic who mixed in with Rome’s upper crust after the civil wars which created the roman empire.

Wrote on these topics and also wrote his Roman Antiquities in twenty books, a history of Rome from the legendary beginnings to 264 BC. Books I-X and most of XI still exist, with fragments of the rest. He also wrote On the Arrangement of Words, On Imitation, On the Early Orators, On Thucydides, and On the Eloquence of Demosthenes.

A work entitled The Art of Rhetoric is associated with his name but may actually have been written later. Very rhetorical and prone to inserting dubious speeches, still a valid and valuable source. “History is philosophy learned from examples.”
This article was provided by forum member Favonius Cornelius

Works:
The Roman Antiquities
On Thucydides
Various Works

Question 16

Tacitus

Answer 16

Publius Cornelius Tacitus) (55 - 120 AD)

Gaius Cornelius Tacitus

Publius or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus (born around AD 56 - died around AD 120), was a Roman historian. Born into a wealthy family living in Gaul. He was a friend of Pliny the Younger and married the daughter of Cnaeus Julius Agricola, who governed in Roman Britain . Tacitus received the best education available to a Roman from a good wealthy family. Public speaking skills, oratory and debate, which were considered the most important areas of study for a young man destined for a career in imperial service or senatorial office. Tacitus was a senator during the reign of Domitian. In AD 97 he was appointed substitute consul under Nerva, and in AD 112-113 he held the highest civilian governorship, that of the Roman province of Asia in Western Anatolia.
Tacitus objected to great concentration of power in the hands of the early emperors. Though he hated imperial power and in his writings tries to paint every emperor as a corrupt despot, he hated civil war and anarchy even more. He had a particularly heavy bias against the emperor Tiberius, whom he portrayed as a sinister and cruel emperor, purging his opponents from the Senate by having them tried for treason and executed. He showed scorn for Claudius and Nero, and even his writings about Augustus contained some belittling and snide remarks. His writing is full of tales of corruption, government scandal, and innocent people being destroyed or having their good names ruined because of the emperor’s lust for power. It was Tacitus’ belief that the emperor had so much power in his hands that no man could occupy the throne without being corrupted by that power.

Tacitus wrote at least 16 books, but books 7-10 and parts of books 5, 6, 11 and 16 are missing. Book 6 ends with the death of Tiberius and books 7-12 presumably covered the reigns of Caligula and Claudius. The remaining books cover the reign of Nero, perhaps until his death in June 68 or until the end of that year, to connect with the Histories. The second half of book 16 is missing. We do not know whether Tacitus completed the work or whether he wrote any further associated books. Of the Histories only the first four books and 26 chapters of the fifth book have survived, covering the year 69 and the first part of 70. The work is believed to have continued up to the death of Domitian on September 18, 96. Tacitus also wrote three shorter works: the Agricola, a biography of his father-in-law Gnaeus Julius Agricola; the Germania; and the Dialogus.

The first of his works was the Dialogus [dialogue], a discussion of oratory in the style of Cicero, demonstrating to some degree why Tacitus was celebrated as an eloquent speaker; this work was long disputed, but his authorship is now generally accepted. Tacitus was primarily concerned with the balance of power between the Roman senate and the Roman Emperors. His writings are filled with tales of corruption and tyranny in the governing class of Rome as they failed to adjust to the new imperial régime; they squandered their cherished cultural traditions of free speech and self-respect as they fell over themselves to please the often bemused emperor.

Tacitus then wrote a biography of Agricola , expressing his admiration for his father-in-law as a good and able man. His small treatise De origine et situ Germanorum [concerning the origin and location of the Germans], commonly called the Germania, supplies (along with the earlier account of Julius Caesar) the principal written material on the Germanic tribes. His treatment of the Germanic peoples outside the empire is of mixed value to historians. Tacitus uses what he reports of the German character as a kind of ‘noble savage’ as a comparison to contemporary Romans and their (in his eyes) ‘degeneracy’. Despite this bias, he does supply us with many names for tribes with which Rome had come into contact. Tacitus’ information was not, in general, based on first-hand knowledge, and more recent research has shown that many of his assumptions were incorrect. In fact, contemporary historians debate whether all these tribes were really Germanic. He is also to blame for the misnaming of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, which did not quite take place in the saltus Teutoburgiensis, as he claimed in the Germania.

The moral purpose and severe criticism of contemporary Rome, fallen from the virtuous vigor of the old republic, also underlies his two long works, commonly called in English the Histories (of which four books and part of a fifth survive) and the Annals (of which twelve books-Books I-VI, XI-XVI-survive). The surviving books of the Histories cover only the reign of Galba (AD 68-69) and the beginning (to AD 70) of the reign of Vespasian but give a thorough view of Roman life-persons, places, and events. The surviving books of the Annals tell of the reign of Tiberius, of the last years of Claudius, and of the first years of Nero. The account contains incisive character sketches, ironic passages, and eloquent moral conclusions. The declamatory writing of the Dialogus is replaced in the historical works by a polished and highly individual style, a wide range of vocabulary, and an intricate and startling syntax. The Annals (ab excessu Divi Augusti) was Tacitus’ final work, covering the period from the death of Augustus Caesar in AD 14. One well-known passage from his writings mentions the death of Christ (Annals, xv 44)’.

Question 17

Strabo

Answer 17

66 BC - 24 AD)

Strabo

Strabo was born c. 63 BC and died c. 21 to 24 AD. He was a Greek historian, philosopher and geographer of special importance. He traveled the Roman world, Asia Minor, Greece, Rome and Italy, Egypt, North Africa and throughout the European provinces recording information as he went. He was an advocate of Roman Imperialism and an accomplished historian, but unfortunately his 47 books pertaining directly to history have been lost. Because of this, Strabo is most well known for his large extensive work, Geographia.

This 17 volume collection of geographic data of the ancient world is mostly intact with only part of the seventh book not surviving. Of the books, 2 are introductory and contain concepts on the history of geography, 8 cover Europe, 6 on Asia, and one on Africa, which focuses mainly on Egypt. Unfortunately Strabo disregarded much of Herodotus’ work, which was recorded first hand in various parts of the world, and he relies greatly on the epics of Homer. While this forces some of his collection to be challenged, it still provides on of the greatest sources on geography from the ancient perspective.

Works:
Geographia

Question 18

Pliny the Younger

Answer 18

Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus) (62 - 113 AD)

Pliny the Younger

Caius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, (62 - 113 AD) nephew of Pliny the elder was an influential orator and statesman of the early empire. He served all the common magistracies of the Cursus Honorum including Consul in 100 AD.

He died while serving as proconsular governor of Pontus-Bithynia. He was a voluminous correspondent and we have nine books of his letters that were probably intended for public consumption. They relate to a large number of subjects and present vivid pictures of the times in which he lived.

Works:
Volumes of Letters

Question 19

Florus

Answer 19

Lucius Annaeus Florus) (during reign of Hadrian)

Lucius Annaeus Florus

Little is known of him for certain other than his birth in Africa province. It is reported by later authors that he traveled to Rome to make his life as a man of letters, but eventually found himself in Tarraco, Hispania Tarraconensis where he founded a school.

He returned to Rome and was befriended by Hadrian. Other than a few letters and poems, his only work is a two book abridged panegyric history of Rome called Epitome of Roman History. It is devoted mostly to military events and takes much from Livy.

“To Hadrian:
I don’t want to be Caesar, please,
to tramp round the Britons, weak at the knees,
[lost line]
in the Scythian frosts to freeze.

Hadrian to Florus:
I don’t want to be Florus, please,
to tramp round pubs, into bars to squeeze,
to lurk about eating pies and peas,
to get myself infested with fleas.”
This article was provided by forum member Favonius Cornelius

Works:
Epitome of Roman History

Question 19

Lucretius

Answer 19

Titus Lucretius Carus) (99 - 55 BC)

Lucretius

Titus Lucretius Carus (99 - 55 BC) was a Roman poet and philosopher who strongly advocated the existence of man on a natural scientific level. He argued against the afterlife and the immortal soul, mocking religion as simple superstition.

He was also among the first to suggest, at least in writing, the creation of the universe through the work of natural laws rather than a supreme being. He also seems to have had some bouts with mental issues with later writers suggesting that the great Cicero appended many of his works. His opinions obviously made him a target for later Christian writers.

Works:
De Rerum Natura
(On the Nature of Things)

Question 20

Suetonius

Answer 20

(Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus) (75 - 150 AD)

Suetonius

Caius Suetonius Tranquillus lived approximately 69 to 140 AD. He was a Roman biographer of considerable fame and even worked as the private secretary of the emperor Hadrian. His main work De vita Caesarum (Lives of the Caesars) covers the early imperial period from Julius Caesar through Domitian.

Suetonius relied heavily on anecdotal and word of mouth information, making much of the details in his work suspect, but still providing a comprehensive look into the lives of the earliest emperors. It reads, in many cases, much like an ancient version of a gossip magazine and is a highly entertaining source.

His work has been so popular, that many later biographers attempted to copy his style. Robert Graves, in making a modern and thorough English translation of Suetonius in the 1950’s, borrowed heavily from him in creating the extremely popular historical novel “I, Claudius”.

Works:
De vita Caesarum (concerning the lives of the Caesars)

Question 22

Ammianus Marcellinus

Answer 22

330 - 391 AD) Ammianus Marcellinus

Ammianus Marcellinus is often considered to be the last Roman historian of any merit. He was born between 325-330 AD most likely at Antioch. While the date of his death is unknown, he lived very near to the end of the 4th century AD.

He essentially wrote a continuation of Tactius’ histories, covering the period between the Emperor Nerva and through to the year 378 AD.

Of the original 31 books, only the last 18 have survived. The remaining books form a concise and valuable history of the late Roman Empire in the years 353 - 378 AD.

Works:
 Res Gestae (The Later Roman Empire)

Question 23

Appian

Answer 23

(90 - 160 AD)

Appian of Alexandria

Appian is an often underated Roman historian, who lived during the height of Roman power and the era of the ‘5 Good Emperors’.

Because of the nature of his work, a collection of many separate geographic and period histories, his contribution to Roman history is sometimes overlooked.

However, his original 24 books, written in Greek, provides valuable insight into several aspects of the Roman world. Of considerable value is his treatement on the civil wars of the late Republic.

Works:
The Roman History

Question 24

Pliny the Elder

Answer 24

Gaius Plinius Secundus) (23 - 79 AD)

Caius Plinius Secundus c.A.D. (23 - 79 AD) was a Roman naturalist, friend and soldier of Vespasian. His great work was dedicated to Vespasian’s son and future emperor Titus. His single surviving work, Historia Naturalis, is a rich, in depth encyclopedia on natural science in the Roman world. In 37 books, he covered geography, anthropology, zoology, botany, medicines and mineralogy.

He was an immense source of knowledge on these subjects, but his work is mainly a collection of facts as it was known in the ancient world. As a scientific study, it is failing in light of modern knowledge, but a historical reference to the science of the Romans it’s an invaluable resource. Pliny was so dedicated to his pursuits that he died of asphyxiation while researching the eruption of Vesuvius and subsequent destruction of Pompeii.

Works:
 Historia Naturalis (Natural Histories)

Question 26

Galen

Answer 26

(Claudius Galen) (129 - 199 AD)

Claudius Galen

Galen (129 - 199 AD), after Hippocrates, may be the most prominent physician of the ancient world, and certainly of the Roman era. He had an exhaustive education and undertook in-depth research to advance medical knowledge of the time.

He rose to prominence and was appointed to be the personal surgeon to the son of Marcus Aurelius, Commodus. Galen studied the bodies of animals to support his research and compare to human anatomy. This research along with the dissection of human remains, led to the development of his theory on the human body’s physiological system.

His writings always dealt with possible objections and criticisms of theories and he regularly reviewed practices. The depth of his writings and the support of the authorities (including the religious authorities) led to his belief in clinical observation and diagnosis becoming the standard practice for doctors in Europe over the course of the next thousand years. Unfortunately, some of his work was destroyed in a fire in the 2nd century, but what remains is a valuable history of medicine.

Works:
On the Natural Faculties
(76 total titles in various compliations)

Question 27

Cato the Elder

Answer 27

(Marcus Porcius Cato) (234 - 149 BC)

Cato the Elder

Cato (sometimes called the Censor) lived from 234 to 149 BC and was one of the most prominent figures in ancient Rome. An accomplished soldier, politician and statesman, his contributions to the Roman world even without his published works are immense.

Though probably best known for his zeal to destroy Carthage and bring on the Third Punic War with the words “Carthago Delende Est”; to remember Cato for this alone is a terrible mistake. He produced many works and was the first historian to write a history of Rome in Latin. Unfortunately a great deal of Cato’s literature has been lost to history, but that which remains is an invaluable resource.

Works:
 De Agricultura (On Farming)

Not Surviving Works:
Origines (a history of Rome from the foundation though the Second Punic War)
Praecepta ad Filium (a collection of maxims)
Carmen de Monibus (a set of rules and philosophy for every day life)
A collection of over 150 speeches

Question 27

Vegetius

Answer 27

(Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus) (c. 400 AD)

Flavius Vegettos Renatus wrote one of the most important military works in the ancient world. Little is known of his life, other than that he wrote his 5 book collection in the 4th century and dedicated it to then emperor Theodosius the Great. He seems to have been a man of high social rank, but admittedly had no military experience. The ‘Epitoma rei militaris’ or ‘De rei militari’ is rather unprofessionally compiled and can be confusing, but is nevertheless an invaluable resource on the art of Roman warfare.

The first book paints a vivid picture of the state of the Roman army in the 4th century and is a plea to those in power to reform the decadence that prevailed. The second is a detailed description of officers and ranks in the legions. The third book is the most highly prized as it deals with tactics and strategy.

It was the basis for a military education during the Middle Ages and influenced a great many commanders of note, including Frederick the Great. The fourth and fifth books deal with siege warfare and the Roman navy respectively. Vegetius was translated into several languages, and the books printed for public consumption as early as the 15th century. With the accession of Napoleon and the advent of modern warfare over the next 2 centuries, Vegetius had fallen out of favor from a military education standpoint.

Works:
Epitoma rei militaris or De rei militari (On Military Matters)

Question 28

Origen

Answer 28

Origenes Adamantius) (185 - 254 AD)

Origines Adamantius was an early Christian philosopher and scholar. Educated in Alexandria he spent 28 years teaching and writing. He was so zealous in his faith that he castrated himself for reasons of purity, but was still allowed to preach despite not being an ordained priest. He founded a school in Caesarea that was even more prestigious than that in Alexandria, where even St. Gregory Thaumaturgus was a student.

In the reign of Decius, Origen was imprisoned and died just after his release. He was among the foremost Christian scholars of his day, but often strayed from the church, blending paganism and his own unique views into his teaching.

According to St. Jerome he wrote 800 works but only very few survive. Among the surviving works are letters, apologies, and exegeses. Unfortunately, because of this, most of his work that has passed down in quotes from later writers may be suspect due to philosophical differences.

Works:
Hexapla (a critical edition of the bible, not surviving)
De Principiis (On First Principles)
Contra Celsum (Against Celsus)
Various letters and other apologies

Question 30

Dio Chrysostom

Answer 30

Dio Cocceianus Chrysostomus) (ca40 - 120 AD)

Dio Chrysostom

Dio Chrysostom came from a wealthy provincial family in Prusa, Bithynia. After becoming famous as a travelling lecturer (earning his name: the golden-mouthed), he later traveled across the empire and to Italia where he associated with the Imperial court. Exiled by Domitian, returned from exile by Nerva (earning the name Cocceianus after Cocceius Nerva) and favored by Trajan, his speeches are copious and nearly all of them survive.

What we have consists of sophistic orations, moral discourses and political addresses. Noted for its content on local affairs in the Greek cities in Asia Minor. “The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.”
This article was provided by forum member Favonius Cornelius

Works:
Orations
Discourses

Question 32

Frontinus

Answer 32

Sextus Julius Frontinus) (40 - 104 AD)

Frontinus

Sextus Julius Frontinus (40 - 104 AD) was an influential Roman magistrate and writer. As governor of Britain under Vespasian he reduced the Silures, a rebellious tribe in SE Wales, and pacified Britain within its borders. His success allowed his successor Agricola to later pacify the bulk of the province.

From his experience as curator aquarum, or water commissioner, he wrote De aquis urbis Romae, which greatly details the water supply of Rome, with complete descriptions and history of the aqueducts. He also wrote the Strategematica, which is important as a guide to Roman military tactics and strategy.

Works::
De Aquis Urbis Romae (The Aqueducts of Rome)
Strategematica (Strategies)
De Agri Mensura (History of Civil Engineering)

Question 34

Livy

Answer 34

Titus Livius) (59 BC - 17 AD)

Titus Livius (59 BC-AD 17) is among the more important Roman historians. He lived most of his life in Rome where he had a prominent education and studied diligently. It was suggested that Livy was a major source of encouragement for the future Emperor Claudius in his historical studies.

Livy’s life work, the History of Rome from its founding, is a richly detailed account of Rome’s early history. Livy, however, was filled with Roman patriotism and painted a romantic view of the ancient world. His sources were mainly the writings of earlier authors and word of mouth legends of the day. Unfortunately, while he paints one of the few existing ancient source pictures of ancient Rome, lack of careful evaluation of his sources make some facts disputable. Regardless, the description of early legendary Rome, as well as the complete work, is a lasting and supremely important testament to Roman history. Living in the time of Augustus, later historians, such as Tacitus labeled him as a Republican sympathizer, but unfortunately, Livy’s books covering this period have not survived.

Works:
Ab Urbe Condita (From the Founding of the City) written in 142 books.
(35 have survived in their entirety while fragments of others exist.)

Question 34

Valerius Maximus

Answer 34

(Valerius Maximus) (c.20 BC-c.AD 50)

Valerius Maximus, (c.20 BC-c.AD 50) - Nothing is known of the man, other than the fact that he wrote Memorable Deeds and Sayings, a miscellaneous collection of facts and anecdotes in nine books. It is organized to illustrate great examples of various vices and virtues. Used to serve as a repertory for rhetoricians and teachers, it still yet contains a few gems on Roman history and her institutions. “The divine wrath is slow indeed in vengeance, but it makes up for its tardiness by the severity of the punishment.”
This article was provided by forum member Favonius Cornelius

Works:
Memorable Deeds and Sayings

Question 36

Ovid

Answer 36

Publius Ovidius Naso) (43 BC - 17 AD)

Part I: Life and Times

Sometimes it seems remarkable Rome produced anything resembling high art. The proper role of an upper class male was service to the community in a legal and political capacity; those on lower rungs could content themselves with agriculture or commerce. Then of course for both sorts there was virtus; the courage and physical excellence (manliness) displayed in a battlefield against the enemies of Rome. Arts were regulated to secondary status. Actors, for instance, were often considered little better than prostitutes, a sign of decadence of effeminate Greek culture.

Conquest of the Hellenistic realms changed attitudes slowly and to a degree. Roman politicos began realizing that art could service them in the same capacity it had serviced Hellenistic elites: as a measure of self-promotion. Augustus, a Hellenistic monarch masquerading as a Roman magistrate, understood this better than anyone. His lieutenant Maecenas effectively functioned as the minister of culture, patronizing poets such as Virgil and Horace whose literary talents could immortalize and flatter the greatness of Rome and its regime. Art was promoted if it served patriotic ends - if it praised the Caesars, legitimized the empire’s politico-military hegemony with divine favor, or extolled the bucolic worth of the Italian farmer and his fields.

It is with that backdrop in mind one needs to consider Ovid and his career.

Publius Ovidius Naso was born in Sulmona in 43 BCE, east of Rome in a region whose people were known as the Paeligni. The Paelignia region had served as a capital in the Italian revolt against Rome during the Social War, but upon surrender its inhabitants were granted citizenship and enjoyed cordial relations with the city on the Tiber. The region sided with Caesar during his struggle with Pompeii, and thus Caesar’s heir was well disposed to the area. Augustus saw that its municipal elite were inducted into the Equestrian order and groomed for eventual entry into the Senate.

Ovid was the younger of two brothers born to such a promising family. He received a requisite basic education in his hometown, apparently taking a liking to poetry at an early age at the expense of his formal studies. From there he was sent to Rome to finish his education, and seems to have excelled at rhetoric. It was in the Eternal City he came under the patronage of Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinius. Messalla was a historian and orator; he had also been Consul, and served under Octavian at the battle of Actium. He also had the distinction of being the first City Prefect, a position he resigned five days later as it was supposedly too autocratic. More importantly for our purposes, Messalla was a facilitator of a circle of poets. Ovid seems to have fallen under the spell of this literary atmosphere furnished by his patron.

With Ovid’s father badgering him to forgo useless poetry, he completed a legal education after having been awarded the broad, purple striped toga of the Senatorial class. He toured Greece with a companion - the so-called Grand Tour of upper class Roman youths. Ovid then held several minor legal and administrative posts in the first obligatory rungs of the cursus honorum. Significantly, however, Ovid did not hold a standard post as a military tribune - he may have been physically unfit for service. In any event, once his father died, Ovid abandoned all pretense of a Senatorial career.

Ovid is the last of the Augustan age poets and is beyond the horrors of civil war experienced by his predecessors. He could take the Pax Romana for granted, never having served in a military capacity. Unlike many cultural elites before or since, he seems to have completely embraced his era - carefree and basking in the spoils of peace as it was. His poems are on the whole lascivious and wanton. He writes unabashedly on sex and seduction, even going so far as to write a didactic handbook on the matter. He revels in adultery, and compares sexual conquest as being equal in its own way to military service.

Such an attitude was bound to run afoul of the moralizing nature of the regime. Augustus had seen laws passed to discourage adultery and encourage a higher birth rate among Rome’s upper classes - the infamous Lex Iulia de adulteriis coercendis. The rebel poet, though very popular with the masses, was not held in high esteem by the establishment. He had retreated from a life of public service to pursue the vita umbratalis - the poet’s life of shady pleasures. Furthermore, his poetry seemed decidedly counter-cultural.

In 8 CE Ovid was banished from Rome to a barely Hellenized town on the Black Sea at Tomi, to endure uncouth barbarians and stormy weather until he died 10 years later. His Art of Love was also banned from Rome’s three public libraries. Ovid claims that while his poetry earned him the establishment’s displeasure, his banishment was more inspired by something he witnessed. What precisely that vague something is remains a mystery to scholars. It is conjectured he was involved with the affairs of Augustus’ scandalous granddaughter, Julia the Younger. Others theorize he may have had knowledge of a conspiracy against the succession of Tiberius, and failed to promptly report it to the authorities.

Ovid was married three times. The first was in his teens. In the only line referencing her, Ovid claims to have found her wanting, and they were divorced. This affair may or may not have served as the inspiration for the literary figure of Corinna that appears periodically in his poetry. The second marriage ended in divorce rather quickly as well. Only the third marriage seems to have afforded him anything resembling connubial bliss; this wife, connected with the Fabian clan, lobbied for his return during his exile from Rome. Ovid’s only mentioned offspring was a single daughter and two grandchildren.

Part II: Poetry

Elegiac poetry developed in the Greek world. It was an oral poetry, designed to communicate between the poet and an audience in a social setting, such as the quintessential Greek symposium. The standard meter was not surprisingly called elegiac - dactylic hexameter and pentameter couplets. Poems could be didactic and moralizing, and were used frequently by poets to inspire their countrymen to arms. Elegies could also be erotic in nature. The Hellenistic city of Alexandria refined a type of elegy under the poet Callimachus.

By the time of Augustan Rome, a “love elegy” had developed, to use a phrase coined by modern scholars. Refined especially by the poets Tibullus and Propertius, the type of elegy has the poet enslaved to the love of a female figure. Withdrawn from the glories of a public life, the poet becomes trapped into an all-consuming private passion. Yet the female figure taunts him and toys with him; he stands outside her door bemoaning her cruelty, the so-called paraklausithyron. He feels rejected and bitter. But he is a soldier in the war of love, and will endure onto the end.

Ovid used the skeleton of elegy for his poetry, but imbued it with his own flesh. For he is, so he says, not enslaved to a particular female figure. He finds seduction all a game. It is an intellectual exercise bereft of emotional attachment. He is more than happy to write a handbook for men on the art of seduction, and in the same handbook will even condescend to offer advice to women. Other men are pathetic souls trapped in a love that can never be fully entertained, but Ovid finds the whole charade an amusing sport.

There is some debate as to whether or not Ovid’s work is autobiographical or fictional. Did he experience first hand the adventures he describes, or is his voice merely a literary mask that fantasizes? Before his exile he himself seems to take the former tone, while after exile he backtracks (“My Muse is wanton, but my life is chaste,” he protests). It is not unreasonable to take a middle stance and assume that the literary mask embellished on personal erotic recollections.

Surprisingly, Ovid and his erotic poetry survived not only Augustan wrath, but the rise of Christianity and the fall of Rome itself. His irreverent and colorful style delighted later generations of Europeans, who called him the praeceptor amoris. He is generally considered, next to Virgil, the most influential Roman poet, and perhaps the one most easily understood by modern sensibilities.

The following is a list of Ovid’s works.

Amores (Love)
Originally five books, but shortened to three by the poet. Details the erotic adventures of the poet. A female figure called Corinna is mentioned, who may possibly be a memory of the wife from Ovid’s failed first marriage.

Heroides (Heroines)
A collection of verse letters written by mythological women to their lovers and husbands.

Ars Amatoria (Art of Love)
 A three book parody of didactic poetry. A veritable handbook to seduction, the first two written for men, the last for women.

Remedia Amoris (Cures for Love)
 Advice to lovers on how to remove themselves from consuming passion.

Metamorphoses (Transformations)
Fifteen books written in hexameter, and perhaps Ovid’s best known work in Antiquity. A mythological epic from Creation to the deification of Caesar, with characters undergoing profound transformations.

Fasti
A poetic treatment of the Roman calendar. The first six months survive.

Tristia (Sorrows)
Written in exile. Poems of lamentations addressed to unnamed individuals.

Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters from Pontus)
Written in exile. Poems of suffering addressed to specific individuals.

Ibis
A “curse poem” addressed at an unnamed enemy.

Medicamina Faciei Feminea (Cosmetics for the Female Face)
An unfinished parody of “drug-lore.”

Also, Ovid wrote a now lost tragedy, Medea.

Question 37

Juvenal

Answer 37

(Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis) (47 - 130 AD)

Decimus Junius Juvenalis (47 - 130 AD) was a Roman satirical poet. His verse was generally a harsh indignant satirical attack on contemporary policies, social situations and personalities. One favorite target was the emperor Domitian, and his verses often got him into trouble with the aristrocracy. However, very little of his life is known, even though his verses are a wonderful insight into life in the Roman Empire.

The attacking tone of his works is uniquely done, especially in the ancient era. He denounced extravagant and luxurious society, the tyranny of various emperors, the immorality of women, and many indiscriminate social behaviors. Several modern quotes are also attributed to Juvenal including, “panem et circenses” (bread and circuses) and “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” (who shall guard the guardians).

Works:
16 satires in 5 books

Question 37

Sextus Propertius

Answer 37

(50 BC - 2 BC)

A love-struck Roman male was once construed an oxymoron. The Latin mos maiorum placed duty to the state above all other considerations, including romance. Had not Aeneas sacrificed his love for Dido in siring the Roman race? And yet it was Rome that developed the love elegy, the poet’s exaltation of a man’s amorous servitude. Sextus Propertius was one of the leading voices of those who, in so many words, placed Cupid’s arrows before Rome’s majesty. While Augustus’ regime tried to co-opt Propertius for their moralizing mission, they were never entirely successful. Despite that, or perhaps because of that, Propertius’ poetry resounds throughout the ages, to be appreciated readily by the modern romantic.

What we know of Propertius’ life is short but telling. Of Equestrian status, he was born to provincial notables in Umbria between 49 and 47 BCE. In 41 BCE Marc Antony’s brother took refuge in the region’s city of Perusia during an unsuccessful struggle against Octavian; the so-called war that followed saw the city besieged and plundered. Propertius’ family’s estates were reduced as a consequence, and perhaps the family suffered the loss of a relative. While only a young child at the time, Propertius’ identified with the losing side in the war. The only reference to politics in his first book of poetry is a lament to the vanquished:

Do you know our fatherland’s Perusian graves,
The Italian massacre in a callous time;
When civil dissension hounded the Roman on?
(Hence grief for me especially, Tuscan dust, for you
Have allowed my kinsman’s limbs to be flung out,
You cover with no earth his pitiful bones.)
I.22
Information on his upbringing and education is scant. By 29 BCE he is connected with the literary currents of Rome, rather than anything resembling the first steps of a typical Equestrian career.

His first book of poetry was published in 28 BCE, under the Greek name of Monobiblos (single book).

Question 38

Cicero

Answer 38

Marcus Tullius Cicero) (106 - 43 BC

Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 - 43 BC) was one of the most influential players in the period of Rome’s late Republic. He was a conservative statesman, politician, lawyer and general defender of Republican principals. Generally regarded as the greatest orator in the history of the world, Cicero was an opponent, and sometimes rival to Caesar.

Thanks in large part to Cicero’s diligent letters and speeches; the modern world has a brilliant historical view of the closing days of the Roman Republic. While speeches were written the rhetoric and political bias for public consumption many surviving letters and other works tell a more intimate tale of these turbulent times.

Speeches

Pro Quinctio, Pro Roscio Amerino, Pro Roscio Comodeo, de Lege Agraria Contra Rullum,
In Verrem, de Imperio Cn. Pompei, Pro Caecina, Pro Cluentio, Pro Rabirio Perduellionis Reo, In Catilinam I-IV, Pro Murena, Pro Sulla, Pro Flacco, Pro Archia, Post Reditum in Senatu,
Post Reditum in Quirites, de Domo Sua, de Haruspicum Responsis, Pro Cn. Plancio,
Pro Sestio, In Vatinium, Pro Caelio, de Provinciis Consularibus, Pro Balbo, Pro Milone,
In Pisonem, Pro Scauro, Pro Fonteio, Pro Rabirio Postumo, Pro Marcello, Pro Ligario, Pro Deiotaro, Philippics

Philosophy

de Inventione, de Optimo Genere Oratorum, Topica, de Oratore, de Fato, Paradoxa Stoicorum, De Partitione Oratoria, Brutus, Orator, De Re Publica, de Consulatu Suo, de Legibus, de Finibus, Tusculanae Disputationes, de Natura Deorum, Academica, Cato Maior de Senectute, Laelius de Amicitia, de Divinatione, de Officiis, Commentariolum Petitionis

Letters

ad Atticum, ad Familiares, ad Quintum, ad Brutum

Question 38

Columella

Answer 38

Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella) (1st cent. A.D.)

Columella

Columella was a retired army officer from Gades who later became a farmer in Italia. He wrote another Roman work On Landed Estates in twelve books and the book On Arboriculture.

Most useful in seeing the changes in agriculture between the Republic and the Empire when compared to Cato and Varro. “He allows very readily, that the eyes and footsteps of the master are things most salutary to the land.”

This article was provided by forum member Favonius Cornelius

Works:
De re rustica

Question 40

Nepos

Answer 40

Cornelius Nepos) (99 - 24 BC)

Roman historian Cornelius Nepos (99 - 24 BC) was a friend of Pomponius Atticus, Cicero, and Catullus. His only surviving work is a collection of biographies, mostly from a lost larger work, De viris illustribus [on illustrious men].

Modeled in a similar short biography fashion to that of Plutarch’s Lives, the general concept was to compare the lives of great Roman and non-Roman leaders. Nepos wrote in a very popular, clear and readable Latin, but his work seemed to focus on style more than historical accuracy.

Works:
Liber De Excellentibus Dvcibvs Exterarvm Gentivm (Book on the Great Generals of Foreign Nations)
Liber De Latinis Historicis (Latin History)
De viris illustribus (On illustrious men)

Question 41

Herodian

Answer 41

170 - 240 AD)

Herodianus of Syria (170 - 240 AD) was a contemporary writer of the same time as Dio Cassius. As he was not a political or social force, little is known of him.

His writing was a complete Roman history during his own lifetime up to about 238 AD, but it lacked organization and chronologic uniformity. Dio Cassius is generally the preferred writer of the time, but Herodian should not be dismissed.

Some of his work, as stand alone pieces, provides valuable insight such as his treatment of Elagabalus. Additionally, as a Syrian, he focused heavily on some eastern campaigns, providing excellent source material for Parthia and surrounding territories.

Works:

History of the Empire

Question 42

Tertullian

Answer 42

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus) (160 - 230 AD)

Quintus Septimus Florens Tertullianus, living circa 160 - 230 AD, was an early influential Christian writer and theologian. Tertullian converted to Christianity in 197 AD and, having an excellent education in law, became a prominent defender of the faith and victims of persecution. As prominent as he was, Tertullian split from the early Catholic Church, however, joining the Montanism movement in 213 AD.

Unlike the Catholics, the Montanists were strict believers in the concept of not forgiving fallen Christians, while the Catholics believed in the ability to repent and be re-accepted by the Church. Montanists also encouraged martyrdom as a means to spread the faith and believed that they lived within the time of the apocalypse and impending judgement. Because of his split, Tertullian was never recognized as a saint within the Catholic Church, despite his immense contribution to its defense and spread.

Works:
Apologeticus
Ad Nationes
De Praescriptione

Question 43

Quintilian

Answer 43

Marcus Fabius Quintilianus) (35 - 100 AD

Marcus Fabius Quintilianus(c. 35 - 95 AD) was a writer of Roman rhetoric. He taught rhetoric at Rome where such famous writers as Pliny the Younger and possibly Tacitus studied under him. He was favored by Vespasian who even made him a consul.

Qunitilian’s work greatly inspired both contemporary authors and later writers of the Renaissance. However, his work was more obscure among the ancient masses. The Institutio Oratoria was a 12 volume handbook discussing the education and principals of Latin rhetoric.

In this publication he provides lists of important ancient writers and brief summaries of their works as well as biographical references to his own life. His work stands out among the finest of ancient writers.

Works:
 Institutio oratoria (Orator's Education)

Question 45

Plautus

Answer 45

254–184 BC)

Titus Maccius Plautus was one of ancient Rome’s greatest playwrights. He was born in Sarsina, Umbria in about 254 BC. Little is known about his life but it is believed that he worked as a stage carpenter as a young man. Plautus eventually went into business as a merchant shipper and according to tradition worked as a miller’s labourer after his venture collapsed. He studied Greek drama in his spare time and from the age of forty onwards achieved increasing success as an adaptor of Greek comedies for the Roman stage.

Plautus’s plays were mainly derived from Greek works belonging to the New Comedy Style. New Comedy plays were essentially social comedies of manners usually featuring the domestic life of the middle and upper classes. They were very “clean” compared to plays from the Greek Old Comedy genre which commonly used vulgar expressions and jokes - Aristophanes’s plays being a case in point. Another typical characteristic of New Comedy was the generalised use of stock characters: the helpful slave, the young lovers, the strict father, the pimp, and so on.

Question 47

Petronius

Answer 47

(Petronius Arbiter) (27 BC - 66 AD)

Petronius Arbiter (27? BC - 66?) was a Roman satirist though his identity is somewhat in doubt. Tactitus referred to Gaius Petronius as arbiter elegantiae working in the court of Nero, and the general association stuck.

His Latin style is generally considered among the best of the period and his epic work Satyricon was skillfully written in prose and verse. His satires provide a vivid recreation of the early empire and the social behavior of the Roman people.

Works:
Satyricon

Question 48

Horace

Answer 48

Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65 - 8 BC)

Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65 -8 BC) was a Latin poet, and one of the greatest lyricists of the ancient world. Horace was unrivaled in his time and his early poems show the influence of the Greeks, but his later verses are complete and fluid Latin scripts.

As he aged, Horace’s themes turned from the common poetic trait of personal vilification to more generalized satire and to literary criticism. He gives a vivid picture of contemporary Roman society and presents a fine picture of the golden age of Rome under Augustus. His work survived the centuries and it had immense influence on later European poets.

Works:
Satires Books I and II

Epodes Books I and II

Odes Book I - IV

Epistles

Question 49

Vitruvius

Answer 49

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio) (c. late 1st cent BC and 1st cent. AD)

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (late 1st cent. BC and early 1st cent. AD) was an engineer and architect for the Emperor Augustus. Putting his significant theoretical and practical knowledge into written form, Vitruvius stands alone as the single greatest source on ancient architecture.

His one surviving work De architectura, written in 10 separate volumes, describes detailed aspects of Roman architecture, engineering, and city planning. Vitruvius remained highly influential throughout the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance; he inspired a great return to classical architecture.

Not only does he provide an invaluable resource into the architecture of ancient Rome, but provides his own unique view of Roman life, culture, philosophy and art.

Works:
De Architectura

Question 50

Plutarch

Answer 50

50 - 125 AD)

Plutarchos (c. 50 - 125) was a Greek and Roman historian and pre-eminent biographer of the day. He traveled extensively, lectured on philosophy in Rome, and served as a priest of Delphi in his native Boeotia. His exceptional contribution to historical study is ‘The Parallel Lives’, of which 50 there are surviving biographies of great Greek and Roman statesmen.

His biographies, which delve into the moral and social implications of events, sometimes stray slightly from historical fact in order to illustrate a point, but are among the finest surviving historical resources.

Plutarch’s ‘Lives’ has had a significant impact on English literature, primarily influencing Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, and Antony and Cleopatra. An additional, if lesser known work, Moralia, consists of essays on various topics such as Superstition and Advice to Married Couples. In these works, he often quotes the works of previous writers whose only surviving texts exist thanks to Plutarch.

Works:
Bioi paralleloi (Parallel Lives) Exists today in various collections of biographies
Moralia, or Ethica (Morals or Ethics)

Question 51

Marcus Aurelius

Answer 51

Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus) (121 - 180 AD)

The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121 - 180 AD) was a stoic philosopher on top of maintaining the supreme authority in the Roman Empire. Serving as the last of the ‘5 Good Emperors,’ Aurelius’ reign, despite his philosophical nature, was marred with war and tainted by a devastating outbreak of plague. The wars with the Germanic Marcomanni and Quadi, among others broke out in 167 and lasted nearly to the end of his reign.

His writings of peace and inner contemplation sometimes stand out in stark contrast to the events of his reign, but they still provide a valuable insight into the emperor and the times in which he lived. His ‘Meditiations’ were intended as personal reflections on the world around him, and in that regard, they provide a unique honest opinion, rather than being tainted by political necessity.

Works:
Meditations

Question 52

Philo

Answer 52

20 BC - 45 AD)

Philo Judaeus (20 BC - 50 AD) was a Jewish philosopher from Alexandria. His writings have had an enormous influence on both Jewish and Christian thought, and directly impacted the writings of near contemporaries Clement and Origen.

Philo was among the first to merge biblical religion and Greek philosophy. Only fragments of Philo’s religious doctrines survive, but many traces of it can be found quoted in later authors.

Works:
Various writings

Question 53

Varro

Answer 53

Marcus Terrentius Varro) (116 - 27 BC)

Marcus Terentius Varro (116 - 27 BC) was a great Roman scholar with academic achievement in many fields. He studied under the philogist Lucius Aelius Stilo and the philosopher Antiochus. Of equestrian birth and rank, Varro was a supporter of Pompey in the civil wars at the fall of the republic, and even served as a legate at the battle of Pharsalus. He was pardoned by Caesar and actually promoted to direct the public library in Rome, in light of his prolific writing.

After the death of Caesar, however, politics took a significant turn in his life, and Varro was proscribed by Marc Antony, having his villa confiscated and forced to flee for safety. After Octavian’s victory at Actium and the establishment of artistic enlightenment in Rome, Varro returned and continued his writing on a vast number of subjects. In all, it’s been estimated that he wrote up to 620 separate volumes.

Surviving Works:
De lingua latina libri (On the Latin Language in 25 Books, of which 6 survive)
Rerum rusticarum libri III (Three books on Agricultural Topics)
Satirae Menippeae (Menippean Satires, about 600 fragments of the original 150 books survives)

Question 54

Dio Cassius

Answer 54

(Cassius Dio Cocceianus) (155 - 235? AD)

Dio Cassius

Dio Cassius Cocceianus (155 - 235? AD) was a Roman historian and Senator who began a steady rise in Roman politics under Commodus.

While an able administrator and military commander, he was appreciated more for his literary work both by his contemporaries and in the modern world.

His great work partially lost, was a history of Rome (written in Greek) from the earliest times until the early 3rd century AD. Of the original 80 books, 19 survive in full. They are a distinguished and invaluable source for the period of the later republic and the first two centuries AD.

Dio Cassius worked diligently to relate his history in an unbiased nature, while understanding the necessity for certain balances when it came to reporting on the various Emperors or political powers of the time.

Works:
 Roman History (the periods 68 BC. to 46 AD survive)

Question 55

Josephus

Answer 55

37 - 100 AD)

Flavius Josephus (37 - 100 AD) was a Jewish historian and soldier initially fighting Roman occupation of Judaea, but later became a favored and prominent writer. His historical works are among the most valuable sources for the study of early Judaism and Christianity. At the beginning of the war between the Romans and Jews, he was made commander of Galilee, despite the fact that he had opposed the uprising.

He surrendered to the Romans instead of committing suicide when the stronghold was taken. He won the favor of the Roman general Vespasian (Titus Flavius Vespasianus) and took his name, Flavius. He lived in Rome under imperial patronage, where he wrote his now vital historical treatments. He is often referenced as being one of the earliest contemporary sources to discuss Jesus Christ, and the subject of much debate on theology and historical perspective.

Works:
The Jewish War
Antiquities of the Jews
Against Apion

Question 56

Fronto

Answer 56

Marcus Cornelius Fronto) (100 - 167 AD)

Marcus Cornelius Fronto

Born in Numidia, he won himself a great fortune as an advocate being a master of rhetoric during his times, so much so that after a public career in Rome became the tutor for Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.

So influential was his rhetorical and grammatical skills that a group of writers called the Frontoniani, who rejected the excess of Greek styles for a more fundamental and straightforward classic Latin feel. His Letters are a collection of pendantic instructional correspondences with his two imperial pupils. Provides a valuable picture of Marcus Aurelius.
This article was provided by forum member Favonius Cornelius

Works:

The Correspondence of Marcus Cornelius Fronto

Question 57

Julian the Apostate

Answer 57

Emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus) (331 - 363 AD)

Flavius Claudius Julianus (331 - 363 AD) was Roman emperor between 361-63 AD. Part of the Constantinian Dynasty, he was the nephew of Constantine I; and successor of Constantius II.

Early on he pursued the life of a scholar studying Christianity among other things, but was forced into public service upon the death of his brother Gallus and made Caesar (heir to the throne). He was a successful general, fighting the Franks and Alemanni in Gaul and later against the Persians. Rivalry between him and the Emperor Constantius eventually forced a near civil war.

Constantius died before the two could meet in combat to settle the issue and Julian was proclaimed the sole emperor. At some point Julian abandoned his Christian roots and tried to re-establish paganism as the main religion of the empire. While still supporting religious tolerance, Julian was later vilified by the church for his actions, though he was actually an excellent administrator in his short reign. Julian was an accomplished writer and his works mainly debating the merits of Christianity and Paganism are an invaluable resource into the ancient faiths.

Works:(available in modern collections generally titled the “Works of Julian”)
Contra Galilaeos
Epistula ad SPQ Atheniarum
Epistulae
Misopogon

Question 58

Athenaeus

Answer 58

(Athenaeus of Naucratis) (ca. AD 200)

Athenaeus

A Greek born in Naucratis, Aegyptus, he moved to Rome where he wrote his Savants at Dinner, a miscellaneous collection of facts, quotations and anecdotes on various social, literary, and particularly culinary topics.

“Nor do even men of advanced age, who marry young wives, perceive that they are hurling themselves into manifest evil, although the poet of Megara has given the warning: “Surely a young wife is not suited to an aged husband; for she obeys not the rudder like a boat, nor do the anchors hold; breaking away from her moorings, oft-times in the nightwatches she finds another haven.”
This article was provided by forum member Favonius Cornelius

Works:
The Deipnosophists