Livius Andronicus, Lucius
- Livius Andronicus, Lucius
-
▪ Roman author
born c. 284 BC, Tarentum, Magna Graecia [now Taranto, Italy]
died c. 204 BC, Rome?
founder of Roman
epic poetry and drama.
He was a Greek slave, freed by a member of the Livian family; he may have been captured as a boy when Tarentum surrendered to Rome in 272 BC. A freedman, he earned his living teaching Latin and Greek in Rome.
His main work, the
Odyssia, a translation of Homer's
Odyssey, was possibly done for use as a schoolbook. Written in rude Italian Saturnian metre, it had little poetic merit, to judge from the less than 50 surviving lines and from the comments of Cicero (
Brutus) and Horace (
Epistles); according to Horace, 1st-century-BC schoolboys studied the work. It was, however, the first major poem in Latin, the first example of artistic translation, and the subject matter happily chosen for introducing Roman youth to the Greek world. Livius was the first literary figure to give
Odysseus his Latin name, Ulysses (or Ulixes).
In 240, as part of the Ludi Romani (the annual games honouring Jupiter), Livius produced a translation of a Greek play, probably a tragedy, and perhaps also a comedy. After this, the first dramatic performance ever given in Rome, he continued to write, stage, and sometimes perform in both tragedies and comedies, after 235 in rivalry with Gnaeus Naevius (
Naevius, Gnaeus). Only one fragment is known from each of his three remaining comedies; fewer than 40 lines of the 10 tragedies have survived. Their titles show that he translated mainly the three great tragedians, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
In 207, to ward off menacing omens, he was commissioned to compose an intercessory hymn to be sung, in procession, to Aventine Juno. As a reward for the success of this intervention, a guild of poets and actors, of which he became president, was granted permission to hold religious services in the temple of Minerva on the Aventine.
* * *
Universalium.
2010.
Look at other dictionaries:
LIVIUS ANDRONICUS — LUCIUS (LIVIUS ANDRONICUS 278? env. LIVIUS ANDRONICUS 204) Esclave grec affranchi, Livius gagna sa vie en enseignant le latin et le grec à Rome. Son œuvre principale, Odyssia , traduction de L’Odyssée d’Homère, fut peut être conçue comme ouvrage… … Encyclopédie Universelle
Livĭus Andronīcus — Livĭus Andronīcus, Lucius, latein. Dichter, um 284–204 v. Chr., ein unteritalischer Grieche, vielleicht aus Tarent, kam, in Kriegsgefangenschaft geraten, nach Rom als Sklave eines Livius, der ihn später frei ließ. Als Schulmeister verfaßte L.… … Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon
Livius Andronicus — Livĭus Andronīcus, Lucius, röm. Dichter im 3. Jahrh. v. Chr., ein Grieche aus Tarent, Begründer der röm. Literatur. Fragmente gesammelt in Ribbecks »Scaenicae Romanorum poësis fragmenta« (3. Aufl. 1897 98) … Kleines Konversations-Lexikon
Livius Andronicus — Livius Andronicus, Lucius, der älteste bekannte lateinische Dichter, * um 280 v. Chr., ✝ nach 207 v. Chr.; kam wahrscheinlich aus Tarent nach Rom und erhielt dort das römische Bürgerrecht. Er übersetzte die »Odyssee« in lateinisch saturnische… … Universal-Lexikon
Livius Andronicus — Lucius Livius Andronicus (vers 285 204 av. J. C.) est l un des premiers poètes latins. Sommaire 1 Biographie 2 Œuvres 3 Bibliographie 4 … Wikipédia en Français
Livius Andronicus — Lucius Livius Andronicus (280/260 BC? ndash;200 BC?), not to be confused with the later historian Livy, was a Greco Roman dramatist and epic poet who produced the first Roman dramatic work and translated many Greek works into Latin. He is… … Wikipedia
Livius Andronicus — Der Dichter Lucius Livius Andronicus, (gr.: Λεύκιος Λίβιος Ἀνδρόνικος (Leukios Libios Andronikos); † zwischen 207 und 200 v. Chr.) galt im Altertum als Begründer der lateinischen bzw. römischen Literatur. Er stammte aus der griechischen Stadt… … Deutsch Wikipedia
Lucius Livius Andronicus — Der Dichter Lucius Livius Andronicus († zwischen 207 und 200 v. Chr.) (griechisch: Libios Andronikos) galt im Altertum als Begründer der lateinischen bzw. römischen Literatur. Er stammte aus der griechischen Stadt Tarent, war somit kein… … Deutsch Wikipedia
ancient Rome — ▪ ancient state, Europe, Africa, and Asia Introduction the state centred on the city of Rome. This article discusses the period from the founding of the city and the regal period, which began in 753 BC, through the events leading to the… … Universalium
Latin literature — Introduction the body of writings in Latin, primarily produced during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, when Latin was a spoken language. When Rome fell, Latin remained the literary language of the Western medieval world until it was … Universalium
