11 Facts About Propertius

Propertius's birthplace is generally regarded as modern Assisi, where tourists can view the excavated remains of a house thought to have belonged at least to the poet's family, if not to the poet himself.

Propertius published a first book of love elegies in 25 BC, with Cynthia herself as the main theme; the book's complete devotion gave it the natural title Cynthia Monobiblos.

Propertius' fame rests on his four books of elegies, totaling around 92 poems .

Propertius's is named in over half the elegies of the first book and appears indirectly in several others, right from the first word of the first poem in the Monobiblos:.

Apuleius identifies her as a woman named Hostia, and Propertius suggests she is a descendant of the Roman poet Hostius.

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Propertius' style is marked by seemingly abrupt transitions and a high and imaginative allusion, often to the more obscure passages of Greek and Roman myth and legend.

Total of 146 Propertius manuscripts survive, the oldest of which dates from the 12th century.

Propertius himself says he was popular and even scandalous in his own day.

However, Propertius' popularity is attested by the presence of his verses in the graffiti preserved at Pompeii; while Ovid for example drew on him repeatedly for poetic themes, more than on Tibullus.

Propertius fell into obscurity in the Middle Ages, though the 12C summoned him and Cynthia to a Love Assize, but was rediscovered during the Italian Renaissance along with the other elegists.

Propertius is the lyrical protagonist of Joseph Brodsky's poem "Anno Domini", originally written in Russian.