Definition: Publius Papinius Statius, who was born in what is now Naples, was a Roman poet of Silver Age Latin. He is one of the most important Latin writers from the Flavian Dynasty, along with Quintilian and Pliny.
Statius wrote two epic poems in Latin, Thebaid (War of Thebes) and part of an Achilleid on the Trojan War, as well as the later, non-epic Silvae. After completing the Thebaid (published c.92 A.D.), he returned to Naples. the intervening years he spent in Rome where he was connected with the imperial court.
Dante, in his "Purgatorio," has Statius converting to Christianity.
Source: J.W. Mackail's Latin Literature
