The Latin language of the Romans is a lasting legacy of their cultural dominance over the western world. While Greek literature dominated the east, and even scholarly circles of Rome itself, writers of Latin developed in their own right.
Many works were recorded and preserved in the original Latin including comedy, history, rhetoric, satire and poetry, and the written form continued to shape European language and literature into the present day.
More information on many famous Roman writers and poets can be found by using the links below.
Writers and Poets of Ancient Rome
- Ammianus Marcellinus (330 - 391 AD)
- Appian (90 - 160 AD)
- Apuleius (Lucius Apuleius) (125 - 171 AD)
- Arrian (Flavius Arrianus) (96 - 180 AD)
- Athenaeus (Athenaeus of Naucratis) (ca. AD 200)
- Caesar (100 - 44 BC)
- Cato the Elder (Marcus Porcius Cato) (234 - 149 BC)
- Catullus (87 - 54 BC)
- Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero) (106 - 43 BC)
- Columella (Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella) (1st cent. A.D.)
- Dio Cassius (Cassius Dio Cocceianus) (155 - 235? AD)
- Dio Chrysostom (Dio Cocceianus Chrysostomus) (ca40 - 120 AD)
- Diodorus Siculus (90 - 21 BC)
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus (60/55 - 7 BC)
- Eusebius (260 - 339 AD)
- Eutropius (Flavius Eutropius) (4th century AD)
- Florus (Lucius Annaeus Florus) (during reign of Hadrian)
- Frontinus (Sextus Julius Frontinus) (40 - 104 AD)
- Fronto (Marcus Cornelius Fronto) (100 - 167 AD)
- Galen (Claudius Galen) (129 - 199 AD)
- Gellius (Aulus Gellius) (123 - 169 AD)
- Herodian (170 - 240 AD)
- Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65 - 8 BC)
- Josephus (37 - 100 AD)
- Julian the Apostate (Emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus) (331 - 363 AD)
- Juvenal (Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis) (47 - 130 AD)
- Livy (Titus Livius) (59 BC - 17 AD)
- Lucan (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus) (39 - 65 AD)
- Lucian (120 - 180 AD)
- Lucretius (Titus Lucretius Carus) (99 - 55 BC)
- Marcus Aurelius (Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus) (121 - 180 AD)
- Martialis (Marcus Valerius Martialis) (38/41 - 100 AD)
- Nepos (Cornelius Nepos) (99 - 24 BC)
- Origen (Origenes Adamantius) (185 - 254 AD)
- Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (43 BC - 17 AD)
- Pausanias (2nd Century AD)
- Petronius (Petronius Arbiter) (27 BC - 66 AD)
- Philo (20 BC - 45 AD)
- Plautus (254 - 184 BC)
- Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus) (23 - 79 AD)
- Pliny the Younger (Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus) (62 - 113 AD)
- Plutarch (50 - 125 AD)
- Polybius (200 - 123 BC)
- Quintilian (Marcus Fabius Quintilianus) (35 - 100 AD)
- Sallust (Gaius Sallustius Crispus) (86 - 34 BC)
- Seneca (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (4 BC - 65 AD)
- Seneca the Elder (Seneca the Elder) (ca.55 Bc- ca.Ad 40)
- Sextus Propertius (50 BC - 2 BC)
- Strabo (66 BC - 24 AD)
- Suetonius (Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus) (75 - 150 AD)
- Tacitus (Publius Cornelius Tacitus) (55 - 120 AD)
- Tertullian (Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus) (160 - 230 AD)
- Valerius Maximus (Valerius Maximus) (c.20 BC-c.AD 50)
- Varro (Marcus Terrentius Varro) (116 - 27 BC)
- Vegetius (Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus) (c. 400 AD)
- Velleius (Velleius Paterculus) (20 BC - 30 AD)
- Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) (70 - 19 BC)
- Vitruvius (Marcus Vitruvius Pollio) (c. late 1st cent BC and 1st cent. AD)
Did you know...
Livius was captured and made a slave at the fall of Tarentum and was freed by his master, a Livian noble, hence his name.
