Titus Annianus was a poet of

ancient Rome 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 ...

, who lived in the time of the emperors

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

and

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania B ...

, 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. Together with Latin, it formed the Latino-Faliscan languages group of the Italic languages. It seems probable that the language persisted ...

. 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, or ...

, 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, also known as M. Valerius Probus 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 ...

. 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 ascribes to an anonymous Faliscan poet.

Aelius Festus Aphthonius Aelius Festus Aphthonius is believed to be the author (otherwise unknown) of a Latin work called ''De metris omnibus'' ("About all the metres") incorporated as part of the '' Ars Grammatica'' of the fourth-century AD Christian writer Gaius Marius V ...

(via the grammarian

Gaius Marius Victorinus Gaius Marius Victorinus (also known as Victorinus Afer; fl. 4th century) 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. H ...

, 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 Falisci ( grc, Φαλίσκοι, ''Phaliskoi'') is the ancient Roman exonym for an Italic tribe who lived in what is now northern Lazio, on the Etruscan side of the Tiber River. They spoke an Italic language, Faliscan, closely akin to Latin. O ...

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

viniculture Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) 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, ra ...

, and it is supposed that these are overall reflective of his body of work, owing to the fact that 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 (; – c. 395) was a Roman poet and teacher of rhetoric from Burdigala in Aquitaine, modern Bordeaux, France. For a time he was tutor to the future emperor Gratian, who afterwards bestowed the consulship on him. H ...

as writing Fescennine Verses in Hadrian's time.

, ''Cento nuptialis'' 11

Notes

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