Livius Andronicus
Playwright, Deceased Person
1969 – 1969
Who was Livius Andronicus?
Lucius Livius Andronicus was a Greco-Roman dramatist and epic poet of the Old Latin period. He began as an educator in the service of a noble family at Rome by translating Greek works into Latin, including Homer's Odyssey. They were meant at first as educational devices in the school he founded. When it came to drama he began staging plays, both tragedies and comedies, which were the first Roman dramatic works. The comedy, based on Greek New Comedy, came to be called comoedia palliata by the Romans. Suetonius later coined the term "half-Greek" of Livius and Ennius. The genre was imitated by the next dramatists to follow in Andronicus' footsteps and on that account he is regarded as the father of Roman drama and of Latin literature in general; that is, he was the first man of letters to write in Latin. Varro, Cicero, and Horace, all men of letters during the subsequent Classical Latin period, considered Livius Andronicus to have been the originator of Latin literature. He is the earliest Roman poet whose name is known.
We need you!
Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!
- Born
- Dec 31, 1969
Taranto - Profession
- Lived in
- Taranto
- Died
- Dec 31, 1969
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Livius Andronicus." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 May 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/livius_andronicus>.
Discuss this Livius Andronicus biography with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In