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 BC ...
rhetorician who taught the art of
oratory towards the close of the
republic
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
, 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 autoc ...
and
Octavianus 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
Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...
.
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 k ...
References
*
Footnotes
{{reflist
Ancient Roman rhetoricians
1st-century BC Romans