Quintus Curtius Rufus

Timothy Howe (Saint Olaf College)
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Life and Times

Establishing the dates for Quintus Curtius Rufus is no easy task since the first two books of his only surviving work, The Histories of Alexander, where we would expect autobiographical information, are missing. Also lacking are direct references in the Histories to the Roman world of the author’s own time—the closest is in Book 10 (10.9.1-6), where Curtius leverages Alexander’s death to present a eulogy for a new Roman emperor, who has either averted, or put a swift end to, recent civil war. This eulogy in Book 10 has caused scholars to place Curius in a number of historical contexts: the reign of Tiberius (Devine 1979), Nero (Verdiere), Galba (Milns 1966), Titus (Barzano 1985), Trajan (Bosworth 1983), Septimius Severus (Bourazeli 1988), or Alexander Severus (Fears

1115 words

Citation: Howe, Timothy. "Quintus Curtius Rufus". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 February 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13007, accessed 19 March 2024.]

13007 Quintus Curtius Rufus 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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