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 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 Pri ...

(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 Classical Latin is the form of Literary Latin recognized as a literary standard by writers of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. It was used from 75 BC to the 3rd century AD, when it developed into Late Latin. In some later periods ...

, a period of stylistic

classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aestheti ...

Fergus Millar Sir Fergus Graham Burtholme Millar, (; 5 July 1935 – 15 July 2019) was a British ancient historian and academic. He was Camden Professor of Ancient History at the University of Oxford between 1984 and 2002. He numbers among the most influ ...

, "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 Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

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 Ancient Rome, 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 traditiona ...

—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 Pri ...

''. 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 th ...

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 Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

poets

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

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 into En ...

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 and ...

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 life ...

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 poetry, ...

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 The Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) is a set of software tools and applications used to develop and implement distributed control systems to operate devices such as particle accelerators, telescopes and other large sci ...

, 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 Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

(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 Albius Tibullus ( BC19 BC) was a Latin poet and writer of elegies. His first and second books of poetry are extant; many other texts attributed to him are of questionable origins. Little is known about the life of Tibullus. There are only a fe ...

(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 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 th ...

(Ovid) (43 BC – 18 AD), poet * Grattius Faliscus (a contemporary of Ovid), poet *

Marcus Manilius Marcus Manilius (fl. 1st century AD) was a Roman poet, astrologer, and author of a poem in five books called '' Astronomica''. The ''Astronomica'' The author of ''Astronomica'' is neither quoted nor mentioned by any ancient writer. Even his ...

(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 Grammatic ...

(64 BC – 17 AD), librarian, poet, mythographer *

Marcus Verrius Flaccus Marcus Verrius Flaccus (c. 55 BCAD 20) was a Ancient Rome, Roman grammarian and teacher who flourished under Augustus Caesar, Augustus and Tiberius. Life He was a freedman, and his manumitter has been identified with Verrius Flaccus, an authorit ...

(55 BC – 20 AD), grammarian, philologist, calendarist *

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio 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 attribute ...

(80 70 BC – after 15 BC), engineer, architect *

Marcus Antistius Labeo Marcus Antistius Labeo (d. 10 or 11 AD) was a Roman jurist. Marcus Antistius Labeo was the son of Pacuvius Labeo, a jurist who caused himself to be slain after the defeat of his party at Philippi. Since his name was different from his father's, ...

(d. 10 or 11 AD), jurist, philologist *

Lucius Cestius Pius Lucius Cestius, surnamed Pius, Latin rhetorician, flourished during the reign of Augustus. He was a native of Smyrna, a Greek by birth. According to Jerome, he was teaching Latin at Rome in the year 13 BC. He must have been living after AD 9, sin ...

(1st century BC & AD), Latin educator *

Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus also anglicized as was a Gallo-Roman historian from the Celtic Vocontii tribe in Narbonese Gaul who lived during the reign of the emperor Augustus. He was nearly contemporary with Livy. Life Pompeius Trogus's grandfathe ...

(1st century BC), historian, naturalist *

Marcus Porcius Latro Marcus Porcius Latro (died 4 BC) was a celebrated Roman rhetorician who is considered one of the founders of scholastic rhetoric. He was born in Roman Spain, and is mentioned often in the works of his friend and contemporary Seneca the Elder, with ...

(1st century BC), rhetorician *

Gaius Valgius Rufus Gaius Valgius Rufus, was a Roman senator, and a contemporary of Horace and Maecenas. He succeeded Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus as suffect consul upon the latter's death in 12 BC. Rufus is best known as a writer of elegies and epigrams, and h ...

(consul 12 BC), poet *

Sulpicia Sulpicia was the author, in the first century BCE, of six short poems (some 40 lines in all) written in Latin which were published as part of the corpus of Albius Tibullus's poetry (poems 3.13-18). She is one of the few female poets of ancient Ro ...

, elegiac poet

References

{{Portal, Ancient Rome, Literature Augustus Classical Latin literature 1st-century BC literature 1st-century literature