Livy

Titus Livius, known in English as Livy, was a Roman historian who lived from 59 BC to AD 17. He wrote a very important book called Ab Urbe Condita, which means "From the Founding of the City." This book tells the story of Rome from its earliest legends, long before the city was traditionally founded in 753 BC, all the way up to the time of the emperor Augustus.

Livy was friends with important people, including members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and the emperor Augustus himself. He even encouraged Augustus’s young grandnephew, who later became the emperor Claudius, to write about history too. Livy's work helps us understand how ancient Rome began and grew into a great empire.

Life

Livy was born in Patavium, which is now called Padua, in northern Italy, around 59 BC. At that time, Patavium was a very important city. During Livy's teenage years, there were big fights in Rome called civil wars. Livy grew up during these troubled times but later moved to Rome.

In Rome, Livy never became a leader or a soldier, but he studied and wrote a lot. He became friends with the emperor Augustus and his family. Livy's most famous work was a big book about the history of Rome, telling stories from the city's beginning up until the time of Augustus. He wanted his book to help people remember Rome's great deeds. Livy also had a family and wrote other books besides his famous history. He passed away in his hometown of Patavium in the year AD 17.

Works

Main article: Ab urbe condita (Livy)

Livy’s main work is called History of Rome, also known as Ab Urbe Condita, meaning “From the Founding of the City.” This book is very important for learning about the history of Rome, especially the Second Punic War. Livy started writing when he was older, around 33 years old, and kept working on it until he moved from Rome to Padua in his later years. Some writers, like Seneca the Younger, said Livy was also a good speaker and thinker and had written about history in other ways too.

Reception

Imperial era

Livy’s History of Rome was very popular from the time it was published and stayed that way during the early years of the empire. The writer Pliny the Younger told a story about someone from Cádiz who traveled all the way to Rome just to meet Livy. Many later writers, like Aurelius Victor, Cassiodorus, Eutropius, Festus, Florus, Granius Licinianus, and Orosius, used Livy’s work in their own books. Julius Obsequens used Livy or a source that had access to Livy to write about unusual events in Rome.

Livy wrote while Augustus was the emperor. Augustus had taken power after a big fight among Roman leaders who said they were protecting the Roman Republic. Patavium, where Livy lived, supported one of those leaders, Pompey. Augustus decided not to use the title Romulus, the first king of Rome, but instead took the title Augustus. He kept the old republic’s ways but changed them to fit his rule as emperor.

The writer Tacitus, who lived about a hundred years after Livy, said that Augustus was Livy’s friend. In a story about a trial, Tacitus had Cremutius Cordus speak directly to the emperor Tiberius. Cordus said that Livy, known for being a great speaker and telling the truth, had spoken very well about Pompey. Augustus even called him “Pompeianus,” but they were still friends.

Why Livy might have gone back to Padua after Augustus died is not clear, but the time of Tiberius’s rule makes you wonder.

Later

During the Middle Ages, because Livy’s book was so long, people usually read summaries instead of the whole thing. Copying the book was hard, expensive, and took up a lot of space, so many copies were lost and could not be replaced. By the Renaissance, people realized that Livy’s work was disappearing, and they rushed to find and buy any remaining copies. The poet Beccadelli even sold his country home to buy a copy made by Poggio. Petrarch and Pope Nicholas V searched for the missing books. Laurentius Valla worked on improving the text of Livy’s work, starting a new area of study. Dante praised Livy in his poems. King Francis I of France asked artists to create works based on Livy’s stories. Niccolò Machiavelli wrote a book called Discourses on Livy, which talks about republics and uses Livy’s History of Rome as an example. Respect for Livy grew so much that Walter Scott wrote in his book Waverley that a Scotsman involved in an uprising in 1715 was caught again because he stayed near where he had been held, hoping to get his favorite book, Titus Livius, back.

Dates

Eusebius of Caesarea, a bishop of the early Christian Church, wrote a summary of world history in ancient Greek called the Chronikon. Though this work was lost, parts of it survived through translations by authors like St. Jerome. Jerome wrote in Latin and included Livy's dates in his translation called the Chronicon.

Because the surviving manuscripts differ in the dates they provide, there isn’t one agreed-upon set of dates for Livy. However, most sources estimate that Livy was born in 59 BC and died in 17 AD, based on information from these manuscripts. Some manuscripts give slightly different years, such as 57 BC for his birth.