Augustan literature refers to the pieces of

Latin literature Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings written in the Latin language. The beginning of formal Latin literature dates to 240 BC, when the first stage play in Latin was performed in Rome. Latin literature ...

that were written during the reign of Caesar Augustus (27 BC–AD 14), the first Roman emperor. In literary histories of the first part of the 20th century and earlier, Augustan literature was regarded along with that of the Late Republic as constituting the Golden Age of Latin literature, a period of stylistic classicism. Fergus Millar, "Ovid and the Domus Augusta: Rome Seen from Tomoi," ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 83 (1993), p. 6. Most of the literature periodized as "Augustan" was in fact written by men— Vergil,

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ...

, Propertius,

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

—whose careers were established during the triumviral years, before Octavian assumed the title ''

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

''. Strictly speaking,

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the ...

is the poet whose work is most thoroughly embedded in the Augustan regime.

Impact and style

Augustan literature produced the most widely read, influential, and enduring of Rome's poets. The Republican poets

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; 84 - 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (, ), was a Latin poetry, Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical h ...

and

Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus ( , ; – ) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the philosophical poem '' De rerum natura'', a didactic work about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, and which usually is translated in ...

are their immediate predecessors; Lucan,

Martial Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 an ...

Juvenal Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ), was a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE. He is the author of the collection of satirical poems known as the '' Satires''. The details of Juvenal's lif ...

and

Statius Publius Papinius Statius (Greek: Πόπλιος Παπίνιος Στάτιος; ; ) was a Greco-Roman poet of the 1st century CE. His surviving Latin poetry includes an epic in twelve books, the '' Thebaid''; a collection of occasional poetr ...

are their so-called "Silver Age" heirs. Although Vergil has sometimes been considered a "court poet", his ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...

'', the most important of the Latin epics, also permits complex readings on the source and meaning of Rome's power and the responsibilities of a good leader.Joseph Farrell, "The Augustan Period: 40 BC–AD 14," in ''A Companion to Latin Literature'' (Blackwell, 2005), pp. 44–57. Ovid's works were wildly popular, but the poet was exiled by Augustus in one of literary history's great mysteries; ''carmen et error'' ("a poem" or "poetry" and "a mistake") is Ovid's own oblique explanation. Among prose works, the monumental history of

is preeminent for both its scope and stylistic achievement. The multi-volume work '' De architectura'' by

Vitruvius Vitruvius (; c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work entitled '' De architectura''. He originated the idea that all buildings should have three attribut ...

also remains of great informational interest. Questions pertaining to tone, or the writer's attitude toward his subject matter, are acute among the preoccupations of scholars who study the period. In particular, Augustan works are analyzed in an effort to understand the extent to which they advance, support, criticize or undermine social and political attitudes promulgated by the regime, official forms of which were often expressed in aesthetic media.Christopher Pelling, "The Triumviral Period," in ''The Cambridge Ancient History: The Augustan Empire, 43 B.C.–A.D. 69'' (Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 7
online.
See also Farrell, "The Augustan Period."

List of Augustan writers

* Publius Vergilius Maro (Virgil, spelled also as Vergil) (70 – 19 BC), *

Quintus Horatius Flaccus Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his '' ...

(Horace) (65 – 8 BC), known for lyric poetry and satires * Sextus Aurelius Propertius (50 – 15 BC), poet * Albius Tibullus (54 – 19 BC), elegiac poet *

Titus Livius Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

(Livy) (64 BC – 12 AD), historian * Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid) (43 BC – 18 AD), poet *

Grattius Faliscus Grattius (or Gratius) Faliscus was a Roman poet who flourished during the life of Augustus (63 BC – 14 AD). He is known as the author of a '' Cynegeticon'', a poem on hunting. Life The only reference to Grattius in any extant ancient writer i ...

(a contemporary of Ovid), poet * Marcus Manilius (1st century BC & AD), astrologer, poet *

Gaius Julius Hyginus Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Gramma ...

(64 BC – 17 AD), librarian, poet, mythographer * Marcus Verrius Flaccus (55 BC – 20 AD), grammarian, philologist, calendarist * Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (80 70 BC – after 15 BC), engineer, architect * Marcus Antistius Labeo (d. 10 or 11 AD), jurist, philologist * Lucius Cestius Pius (1st century BC & AD), Latin educator * Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus (1st century BC), historian, naturalist * Marcus Porcius Latro (1st century BC), rhetorician * Gaius Valgius Rufus (consul 12 BC), poet * Sulpicia, elegiac poet

References

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