18 Facts About Livius Andronicus

Livius Andronicus began as an educator in the service of a noble family, producing Latin translations of Greek works, including Homer's Odyssey.

Livius Andronicus's comedies were based on Greek New Comedy and featured characters in Greek costume.

The genre was imitated by later generations of playwrights, and Livius Andronicus is accordingly regarded as the father of Roman drama and of Latin literature in general; that is, he was the first man of letters to write in Latin.

Varro, Cicero, and Horace, all men of letters during the subsequent Classical Latin period, considered Livius Andronicus to have been the originator of Latin literature.

Livius Andronicus is the earliest Roman poet whose name is known.

Livius Andronicus was originally a highly educated Greek, who was bought as a slave by Roman nobles.

Livius Andronicus is the Latinization of a Greek name, which was held by a number of Greek historical figures of the period.

Cicero says, "This Livius exhibited his first performance at Rome in the Consulship of M Tuditanus, and C Clodius the son of Caecus, the year before Ennius was born," that is, in 240 BC.

Cicero goes on to relate the point of view of Accius, that Livius Andronicus was captured from Tarentum in 209, and produced a play in 197.

Livius Andronicus was given liberty by Livius Salinator, whose children he was educating, by merit of his intelligence.

The passage is ambiguous concerning the events actually happening in Olympiad 148; Livius Andronicus could have been being given liberty or simply have been being honoured, having been liberated long ago.

Livius Andronicus made a translation of the Odyssey, entitled the Odusia in Latin, for his classes in Saturnian verse.

Livius Andronicus' translation made this fundamental Greek text accessible to Romans, and advanced literary culture in Latin.

Since there was no tradition of epic in Italy before him, Livius Andronicus must have faced enormous problems.

Also, early Roman poetry made use of pathos, expressive force, and dramatic tension, so Livius Andronicus interprets Homer with a mind to these ideas as well.

In general, Livius Andronicus did not make arbitrary changes to the text; rather, he attempted to remain faithful to Homer and to the Latin language.

Livy tells us that Livius Andronicus was the first to create a play with a plot.

One story says that after straining his voice, Livius Andronicus, who was an actor, was the first to leave the singing to singers and limited the actors to dialogue.