Titus Livius was born some years before the middle of the first century BCE, at the beginning of one of the most tumultuous periods of Roman history and, perhaps, the entire Mediterranean world, which through a series of civil wars eventually resulted in the end of the Roman Republic and the emergence of the so-called principate of Augustus. According to Saint Jerome, the precise year of his birth was 59 BCE (Hier.

chron

. p. 154, 18–19). Although Jerome might have been mistaken by five years, and Livy might have been born already in 64 BCE, most scholars nowadays consider the first date more plausible. In either case, Livy was still a boy on the verge of adulthood, when Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49 BCE, defeated his political opponents at Pharsalos in the following year, and was…

3380 words

Citation: Pausch, Dennis. "Livy". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 April 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2762, accessed 19 March 2024.]

2762 Livy 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.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.