Latin Literature

Timeline of Latin Literature From Livius to the Death of Marcus Aurelius.

A timeline showing the dates of the leading writers of the ancient language of the Romans.

Glossary entry on Fescennine Verse.

An annotated timeline of drama in ancient Rome.

With the cessation of the Punc Wars, Rome had the leisure and motivation to develop its own brand of literary culture. This is a chapter from J.W. Mackail's "Latin Literature."

An etext of Latin Literature, by J. W. Mackail.

Books about Roman Satire, especially Roman verse satire written by Horace, Juvenal, Persius, but also including Menippean satire like the Satyricon, by Petronius.

Glossary entry on the patron of Latin poets Maecenas.

Glossary entry on Pacuvius.

The word "vulgar" comes from a Latin word for "the crowd / common people." Vulgar Latin was what the people spoke. It was different from the Classical Latin we know from literature, but provides a bridge from the literary language to the modern Romance languages. Find out how we know about the language the people spoke.

Augustan Age literature was mostly poetic, with the exception of prose writer Livy.

Comedy, Classical, Christian, Technical, Prose, Histories, Astrology, by William Harris.

In "Tyrian Purple of Royalty : A most intriguing problem of hue," William Harris asks "Why is Homer's world purple?"

"Your place for information about historical novels set in Ancient Roman Times." Includes a search database, author/bibliographical information, reviews, essays, and much more.

A series of essays on such popular Roman authors as Apuleius, Julius Caesar, Catullus, Cicero, Horace, Ovid, Juvenal, Livy, Suetonius, Tacitus, Lucretius, and Petronius.

General observations on the fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon.

A "suggestion for a wide-angle approach to the understanding of the literary classics from the ancient world, as read in a modern setting," from William Harris.

"Waiting for the Barbarians" is a Roman-themed poem by Constantine Cavafy (1864-1933), translated by Edmund Keeley.