Epidius (1st century BC) was an
Ancient Roman
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
rhetorician
Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...
who taught the art of
oratory
Oratory is a type of public speaking.
Oratory may also refer to:
* Eloquence, fluent, forcible, elegant, or persuasive speaking
* Rhetoric, the art of discourse
Places
* Oratory (worship), a public or private place of divine worship, akin to a ...
towards the close of the
republic, numbering
Marcus Antonius
Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the aut ...
and
Octavianus
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 ...
among his scholars. His skill, however, was not sufficient to save him from a conviction for malicious accusation (''
calumnia
''Calumnia '' ("Slander") is a 1939 Mexican
Mexican may refer to:
Mexico and its culture
*Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America
** People
*** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their desc ...
'').
We are told that he claimed descent from ''Epidius Nuncionus'' (the name is probably corrupted), a rural deity, who appears to have been worshipped upon the banks of the
Sarnus (modern Sarno) in
Campania
(man), it, Campana (woman)
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Suetonius
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire.
His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...
, ''De Claris Rhetoribus''
4
See also
*
Epidia (gens)
The gens Epidia was an obscure plebeian family at ancient Rome. The only members to achieve any importance lived during the first century BC.
Origin
According to Suetonius, The orator Epidius claimed to have been descended from a rural deity kn ...
References
*
Footnotes
{{reflist
Ancient Roman rhetoricians
1st-century BC Romans