The praetorian guard was an elite infantry created by Augustus and charged with the task of guarding the princeps. The princeps was a person without strict legal right to rule, however they possessed great imperium, along with extraordinary political influence. The praetorian guard consisted of 9,000 troops and signified …

59 BCE- 17 CE - Livy was an important Roman historian. His crowning work, History of Rome, encompassed 142 books and chronicled the history of the city from its inception to 9 BCE. Livy was originally from northern Italy, but came to reside in Rome for his later life. It is …

43 BCE- 18 CE - Ovid is said to be the last of the great poets of the Roman golden age. Ovid's work takes a carefree approach to traditional Roman values, and often lampooned them. His famous works include Amores, a series of love poems, Metamorphoses, and The Art of Love …

30 BCE

The Aeneid was an epic poem written by Virgil, 70- 19 BCE. The Aeneid is a Homeric epic which relates the story of Aeneas, the son of Anchises of Troy. The Aeneid provides a historical context for linking Roman civilization and Greece. Aeneas is said to encompass the …

94- 55 BCE - Lucretius was a philosopher poet who based his work on traditional Greek styles of philosophical poetry. Lucretius was noted for his work, On the Nature of the Universe, which was said to have contributed to a revival of Epicurial thought in Rome between 60 and 40 BCE …

87- 54 BCE - Catullus is known as one of the best "lyric poets" ever produced by Rome, however Catullus was not originally from Rome. Catullus originally came from northern Italy, though he spent much of his life in Rome. Catullus was known for his adaptations and augmentations to Greek poetry …