Aulus Licinius Archias

The poet Aulus Licinius Archias was born around 118 BC. Born in Antioch on the Orontes . Nothing is preserved about his death.

Life

Archias came from a noble family and was well brought up. Even in his youth he was known as an improviser. In 102 BC He came to Rome and gained a foothold in the noble families of the city as a poet. 93 BC He received the citizenship of Herakleia when he accompanied Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus through the lex Plautia Papiria in 89 BC. BC also the Roman citizenship. Archias received the gentile name of the Licinier . 62 BC Archias was accused by a certain Grattius, of whom nothing further is known, on the basis of the lex Papia , which provides for exile from Rome if the citizen is presumed. Marcus Tullius Cicero defended it with the speech Pro Archia poeta . Presumably Archias was acquitted because Cicero mentions Archias in a letter and the formulation assumes Archias' presence in Rome. Nothing is known about the time and circumstances of his death.

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In his speech, Cicero mentions epics about the Cimbrian Wars and the Mithridatic Wars , about which nothing is known and which have not been passed down. An epic suggested by Cicero about his consulate has also not been preserved. In his De divinatione , Cicero also mentions a poem about a childhood experience of the famous actor Quintus Roscius Gallus .

Under the name Archias, 35 poems have survived in the Anthologia Graeca . The authenticity and the relation to Aulus Licinius Archias are unclear.

literature

• Richard Reitzenstein : Archias 20 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 1, Stuttgart 1895, column 463 f.
• Otto Schönberger (translator and publisher): Pro A. Licinio Archia poeta oratio. Speech for the poet A. Licinius Archias. Latin / German . Bibliographically amended edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-15-001268-6 .
• Helmut Vretska (translator and publisher): Pro Archia poeta. A testimony to the spirit's struggle for recognition . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1979, ISBN 3-534-06071-7 .
• Carsten Schmieder (transl., Ed. And with an essay by Carsten Schmieder): Pro Archia poeta. = Defense for the poet Archias. Hybris, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-939735-02-1 .
• Joachim Penzel: Variation and Imitation: a literary commentary on the epigrams of the Antipater of Sidon and Archias of Antiocheia (= Bochumer Altertumswwissenschaftliches Colloquium . Volume 71). Scientific publishing house, Trier 2006, ISBN 978-3-88476-871-6 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Aulus Licinius Archias in the catalog of the German National Library