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The Ancient World: Extraordinary People in Extraordinary Societies

Ennius, Quintus

Born: 239 bce; Rudiae, southern Italy

Died: c. 169 bce; possibly Rome

Related civilization: Republican Rome

Major role/position: Poet

Life: Quintus Ennius (KWIHN-tuhs EHN-ee-uhs) was born in Rudiae of Calabria, an Italian town permeated with Greek culture, near the Latin colony of Brundisium and the Greek city of Tarentum, and he himself attests his proficiency in Greek and Latin. Brought to Rome in 204 bce by Cato the censor, he spent his early years teaching and elucidating Greek literature as well as writing. There is testimony that he was on friendly terms with Roman citizens, and was granted citizenship in 184 bce by the general Marcus Fulvius Nobilior. Ennius wrote an epic on the history of Rome, Annales (first century bce; Annals, 1935), as well as works in various other genres, including satire and philosophy. In tragedy, the titles and fragments indicate that he modeled his adaptations more on Euripides than on the other Greek dramatists.

Influence: Ennius is most significant for his incorporation of Greek forms and structures into Latin literature. He abandoned attempts to keep alive Latin’s native Saturnian meter and instead employed the Greek hexameter for his epic, upon which his fame principally rested and which was the national epic of Rome until Vergil wrote his Aeneid (c. 29–19 bce; English translation, 1553). His works survive only in fragments, but they had a significant influence on Vergil’s Aeneid and on later Roman epic.

See also: Cato the Censor; Rome, Republican; Vergil.

—C. Wayne Tucker

Citation Types

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MLA 9th
"Ennius, Quintus." The Ancient World: Extraordinary People in Extraordinary Societies, edited by Shally-Jensen Michael, Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=CWEP_0590.
APA 7th
Ennius, Quintus. The Ancient World: Extraordinary People in Extraordinary Societies, In S. Michael (Ed.), Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=CWEP_0590.
CMOS 17th
"Ennius, Quintus." The Ancient World: Extraordinary People in Extraordinary Societies, Edited by Shally-Jensen Michael. Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=CWEP_0590.