Quintus Claudius Quadrigarius was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

. Little is known of Q. Claudius Quadrigarius's life, but he probably lived in the .

Work

Quadrigarius's annals spanned at least 23 books. They began with the conquest of

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

by the

Gauls The Gauls (; , ''Galátai'') were a group of Celts, Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age Europe, Iron Age and the Roman Gaul, Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). Th ...

(BCE), reached

Cannae Cannae (now , ) is an ancient village of the region of south east Italy. It is a (civil parish) of the (municipality) of . Cannae was formerly a bishopric, and is a Latin Catholic titular see (as of 2022). Geography The commune of Cannae i ...

by Book 5, and ended with the age of

Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (, ; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman of the late Roman Republic. A great commander and ruthless politician, Sulla used violence to advance his career and his co ...

, or 82BCE. The surviving fragments of his work were collected by Hermann Peter. The largest fragment is preserved in

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, ...

, and concerns a single combat between T. Manlius Torquatus and a

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

Legacy

Quadrigarius's work was considered very important, especially for the contemporary history he narrates. From its sixth book onward,

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 i ...

's ''

History of Rome The history of Rome includes the history of the city of Rome as well as the civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman law has influenced m ...

'' used Quadrigarius and

Valerius Antias Valerius Antias ( century BC) was an ancient Roman annalist whom Livy mentions as a source. No complete works of his survive but from the sixty-five fragments said to be his in the works of other authors it has been deduced that he wrote a chron ...

as major sources, (if not uncritically), and it seems Livy especially drew on Quadrigarius for trophies placed in the

Capitoline temple The Capitoline Temple is an ancient monument located in the ancient city of Volubilis in Fès-Meknès, Morocco. It dates from the Roman era, and was situated in the province of Mauretania Tingitana. The building incorporates a tetrastyle architec ...

and lost before Livy's time in the fire of 83 BCE. He is cited by Aulus Gellius, and he was probably the "Clodius" mentioned in

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

's ''Life of Numa''. The judgment of his prose has varied. Some considered that it was his lively style which ensured his survival in various extracts; but more perhaps would agree with Fronto that his language was pure and colloquial (“puri ac prope cotidiani sermonis”), and that it benefited from its straightforwardness, and absence of archaisms.M von Albrecht, ''A History of Roman Literature'' (1997) p. 385

References

Citations

Bibliography

* W. Kierdorf in ''Brill's New Pauly'' s.v. Claudius 30* A. Klotz, "Der Annalist Q. Claudius Quadrigarius." ''Rheinische Museum'' 91 (1942) 268–285. * E. Badian, "The Early Historians" in T. Dorey (ed.) ''Latin Historians'' (1966) 1-38. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Claudius Quadrigarius, Quintus Latin historians Quadrigarius, Quintus Old Latin-language writers

Work

Legacy

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