ANCIENT ROMAN

LITERATURE
AND SOME POET
Here is where our presentation begins
 Literature

 written works, especially those considered of superior or lasting

artistic merit: a great work of literature.

 a body of written works. The name has traditionally been applied to

those imaginative works of poetry and prose distinguished by the
intentions of their authors and the perceived aesthetic excellence of
their execution. Literature may be classified according to a variety of
systems, including language, national origin, historical period, genre,
and subject matter.
IMPORTANCE OF LITERATURE

EDUCATION PLEASURE

RECORDS TO INFORM
 ROMAN LITERATURE
 Mostly adaptations from Greek literature. The first type of
literature that became popular in Rome were dramas, this
happened in about 363 BCE.
 The Romans favorite dramas were very different from the
Greeks favorite dramas. The Romans like comedies
opposed to tragedies. Dramas weren’t the only type of
literature that the Romans favored there were also poetry,
plays (dramas), novels, essays, and collection of letters
 IDENTITY OF ROMAN LITERATURE

Roman Literature reached its popularity peak during the Golden

Age when Augustus reigned, once he died Roman literature
rapidly declined. Some of the most famous contributors to
Roman literature are: Ovid, Livy, Virgil, Titus Maccus Plaautus
(Plaautus), and many more.
 VIRGIL

Virgil was most famous for his

poem (which is the length of a
book), The Aeneid, this is based of
Homer's Odyssey and The Illiad.
Although Virgil was not pleased
with these books the public loved
them and they were published
anyway. Now The Aeneid is
considered a national epic.
 OVID
Ovid was a famous poet who liked
to test boundaries with his poetry. Most
people were skeptical of his poetry and
often wondered if his poems were legal or
not. They weren't legal so Ovid was
eventually banished from Rome by
Augustus. One of his most famous books
of poetry is called Amores (love poems),
you might read a portion of this book at
some point during high school.
 LIVY
Livy was a famous historian who wrote
about major events in Rome starting at the
beginning of the Republic in about 59 BCE
until he died. He wrote 142 books, about
ten of those books have been lost, but
much of what we now about Rome comes
from these books. Livy wrote about the
Punic Wars and did most of his writing
while Augustus reigned.
 Titus Maccus Plaautus

Titus Maccus Plaautus (Plaautus)

was probably one of Rome's
greatest dramatic comics. His plays
were based off of Greek plays, but
he was the first play writer to make
plays truly Latin. His plays have
survived the best making him more
well known. Plaautus also influenced
Shakspear.
IMPORTANCE OF ROMAN LITERATURE
Roman literature is pretty much the only reason that we
know so much about Rome and that we know anything at
all. Some monks saved tons of the literature after the
Roman empire crumbled, if they hadn't done this great
books like, The Aeneid, Amores, and much more
wouldn't have been known today and we might not of
known as much as we know about ancient Rome as we
do today.
 TIME FRAME

Latin literature has been around for a really long time the oldest
evidence of Latin literature dates back to roughly 600 BC, but Latin
was spoken way before then. The interest in Roman literature
started with the Livius Andronicus, a Greek slave. Livius eventually
translated Homer’s Odyssey into Latin and and he was the first to
write a Roman style tragedy play. Roman literature evolved
throughout the Roman empire from straight up translations of Greek
to more Christian writing. There are three basic time periods that
Roman literature can be broken up into, they are: The Golden Age,
The Silver Age, and the Classical Period.
 THREE BASIC TIME PERIODS
THE GOLDEN AGE
The Golden Age in Roman
literature is when the literature
was the most well known, well
respected, also this is when some
of the more famous pieces of
Roman literature were written.
This time period ranged form
about 80 BCE until 14 BCE, and
thrived the most under the
Emperor Augustus. After
Augustus died Roman literature
declined rapidly in popularity,
but was still noted. During the
Golden Age of Roman literature
the Romans literary style was
perfected and developed.
THE SILVER AGE
During the Silver Age Roman
literature wasn't as popular as
it was in the Golden Age, but
it was still pretty well noted.
During this time writers works
became more public,
encouraging writers to make
their
. writing better quality to
impress the public. Doing this
this could also damage their
overall status as a writer.
Most writers during this time
period were greatly
influenced by Livy and Ovid.
CLASSICAL PERIOD
There isn't too much info
about the classical period,
but from what I can guess
it was similar to the Silver
age, just literature
received less traction. The
classical period was
toward the end of the
roman empire, but roman
literature survived and is
still pretty wide spread
today.
 FAME
We know about Roman literature because of many things, some of them are:

 When the Roman Empire was crumbling some monks and scholars saved some of the
literature.
 Also the Romans invented book bindings, which would of probably made it easier to
transport the saved literary pieces form place to place.
 Another reason why we know so much today about Roman literature is because it’s so
good. Books like the Aeneid, and many more are used in very often today in schools all
over the U.S.
 Famous literary works from Roman literature are called national epics. They are called this
because they are so epic!
 Some Roman writers that are generally associated with national epics are: Ovid, Virgil,
Livy, Plaautus, and Horace.
 Livy is another reason why we know so much about Roman history because he wrote an
account of all of the happenings in Rome starting at the beginning of the Republic.
 LEGACY
We got many ideas and systems from the Roman, who got them from the Greeks, some of
those systems and ideas are:
 The different types and styles of poetry
 The U.S. government system is very similar to some of the different types of Roman
government that occurred.
 Some of our different types of writing, like essays, and speeches.
 It gave some curious historians starting information about how Rome was supposedly
founded. They got this from the book Aeneid.
Roman literature influenced many people including Shakespeare, who was influenced by
Plaautus’s plays. Roman literatures also set a high bar for writers to reach, especially play
writers.
 Roman literature is still very much a part of our culture today. We read some of the literary
works that were written back then and use them for our studies. The ancient Roman's
native language is Latin, Latin is still used in many other languages today. Although the
ancient language its self is not used today many words in a variety of languages use Latin
as a base language.
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