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Critical Survey of Mythology and Folklore: Gods and Goddesses

Juvenal

by Christopher Nappa

Also known as: Decimus Junius Juvenalis

Born: c. 60 ce; Aquinum

Died: c. 130 ce; place unknown

Related civilization: Imperial Rome

Major role/position: Poet, satirist

Life

Little concrete information exists on the life of Juvenal (JEW-vuhn-uhl), and most of it ultimately comes from his poems. The persona in his poems is that of a disgruntled Roman, probably of the equestrian class, who views the pervasive changes in his society with bitter disdain. In contrast to earlier Roman satire, the hallmark of Juvenal’s work is indignatio (anger), and his style is highly rhetorical and bombastic. The collection of satires Saturae (100–127 ce; Satires, 1693) consists of sixteen poems divided into five books. His targets are varied, including women, foreigners (particularly Greeks), debased aristocrats, stingy patrons, and effeminates. The poems provide a fascinating, if biased, look into the life and manners of the Roman elite in the early empire.

Influence

Juvenal’s satires have often been popular, and in the Middle Ages, he was revered as a moralist. He had a vast influence on later European satirists, especially the Italian poet Ludovico Ariosto, the English poet John Dryden, and English writer Samuel Johnson. Juvenal inspired a long tradition of neo-Latin satire as well.

Further Reading

1 

Anderson, W. S. Essays on Roman Satire. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1982.

2 

Braund, S. H. Roman Satirists and Their Masks. Bristol, England: Bristol Classical Press, 1996.

3 

Coffey, M. Roman Satire. Bristol, England: Bristol Classical Press, 1989.

4 

Rudd, Niall, trans. Themes in Roman Satire. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Nappa, Christopher. "Juvenal." Critical Survey of Mythology and Folklore: Gods and Goddesses, edited by Michael Shally Jensen, Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=CSGods_0135.
APA 7th
Nappa, C. (2019). Juvenal. In M. S. Jensen (Ed.), Critical Survey of Mythology and Folklore: Gods and Goddesses. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Nappa, Christopher. "Juvenal." Edited by Michael Shally Jensen. Critical Survey of Mythology and Folklore: Gods and Goddesses. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2019. Accessed December 14, 2025. online.salempress.com.