Gnaeus Gellius

Who is Gnaeus Gellius?

Gnaeus Gellius was the author of a history of Rome from the earliest epoch, extending at least to the year 145 BC, as indicated by Censorinus. He described the Rape of the Sabines in his second book; the reign of Titus Tatius in the third; and in the 33rd, dealing with the Second Punic War, the death of Postumius Albinus and the purpose to which his skull was applied by the Boii. Choricius quotes from the 97th book, though the numerical designation may not be reliable.

A considerable space seems to have been devoted to the legends connected with the origin of Rome. If these books were in general equal in length to the similar divisions in Livy, the compilation of Gellius must have been exceedingly voluminous, and the details more ample than those contained in Livy, by whom, as well as by Plutarch, he seems to have been altogether neglected, although occasionally cited by Dionysius. He was apparently both an accurate chronologer and a diligent investigator of ancient usages.