Definition: Lucius Apuleius was a philosopher and rhetorician tried for using magic to win an older, wealthy bride, but he's better known for his novel about the mysteries of Isis, the tale of
Cupid and Psyche, and the semi-biographical misadventures of its hero, Lucius.
Apuleius was born in about 124 in Madauros, Numidia, received his education in Carthage and Athens and then traveled around the Mediterranean learning about religious mystery rites. In 158 he delivered a speech recorded as Apologia Apuleii in the multicultural town of Sabratha, Tripolitania (modern Libya), as a defense against the charge of using magic to win a wealthy older bride, Pudentilla. Lucius, in Apologia, provides a glimpse into second century Roman law, the economic and social conditions of Roman North Africa, and the attitude towards magic.
Apuleius died in about 174 A.D., having written the already mentioned novel, known as either
The Golden Ass or The Metamorphoses (also Transformations of Lucius), and Apologia, as well as treatises on Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle.
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