Titus Annianus was a poet of

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

, who lived in the time of the emperors

Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...

and

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

, and wrote erotic or light verse (''ludicra carmina''), possibly in the

Faliscan language The Faliscan language is the extinct Italic language of the ancient Falisci, who lived in southern Etruria at Tiber Valley. Together with Latin, it formed the Latino-Faliscan languages group of the Italic languages. It seems probable that the l ...

. Annianus was a friend of

Aulus Gellius Aulus Gellius (c. 125after 180 AD) was a Roman author and grammarian, who was probably born and certainly brought up in Rome. He was educated in Athens, after which he returned to Rome. He is famous for his ''Attic Nights'', a commonplace book, ...

, who says of Titus that he was tremendously knowledgeable about ancient literature and the rules of language. He claimed to Aulus Gellius to have been a pupil of

Marcus Valerius Probus Marcus Valerius Probus, sometimes called Berytius or Probus the Berytian (c. 20/30 – 105 AD), was a Roman grammarian and critic, who flourished during Nero's reign. He was a student rather than a teacher, and devoted himself to the criticism ...

. Among other things, he appears to have written (somewhat ribald)

Fescennine Verses Fescennine Verses (Fescennina carmina), one of the earliest kinds of Italian poetry, subsequently developed into satire and Roman comic drama. History Originally sung at village harvest-home rejoicing, they made their way into the towns, and became ...

. Based on the information that Gellius provides, modern scholars consider this Annianus to be the author of a number of verses that the grammarian

Terentianus Terentianus, surnamed Maurus (a native of Mauretania), was a Latin Philologist, grammarian and writer on prosody (poetry), prosody who flourished probably at the end of the 2nd century AD. His references to Septimius Serenus and Alphius Avitus, wh ...

ascribes to an anonymous Faliscan poet. Aelius Festus Aphthonius (via the grammarian

Gaius Marius Victorinus Gaius Marius Victorinus (also known as Victorinus Afer; ) was a Roman grammarian, rhetorician and Neoplatonic philosopher. Victorinus was African by birth and experienced the height of his career during the reign of Constantius II. He is also ...

, whose work Aphthonius's was often appended to) mentions Annianus as the author of a ''Faliscum carmen''. (Whether Terentianus and Aphthonius meant the poet wrote in the

, or was an ethnic

Falisci The Falisci were an Italic peoples, Italic tribe who lived in what is now northern Lazio, on the Etruscan side of the Tiber River. They spoke an Italic languages, Italic language, Faliscan language, Faliscan, closely related to Latin. Origina ...

, or both, is uncertain.) The few verses of Annianus' that survive seem to be dedicated to pastoral country life and

viniculture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ...

, and it is supposed that these are overall reflective of his body of work, as in his short description, Aulus Gellius depicts Annianus as harvesting grapes. Annianus is likely identical with the "Annianus Faliscus" mentioned by

Ausonius Decimius Magnus Ausonius (; ) was a Latin literature, Roman poet and Education in ancient Rome, teacher of classical rhetoric, rhetoric from Burdigala, Gallia Aquitania, Aquitaine (now Bordeaux, France). For a time, he was tutor to the future E ...

as writing Fescennine Verses in Hadrian's time.

, ''Cento nuptialis'' 11

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Annianus, Titus Ancient Roman poets 2nd-century Romans 2nd-century poets Silver Age Latin writers Ancient Roman antiquarians Latin writers known only from secondary sources Falisci