Aulus Licinius Archias

Aulus Licinius Archias the poet was born around 118 BC in Antioch on the Orontes. Of his death nothing is received.

Life

Archias came from a distinguished family and enjoyed a good education. Even in his youth he was known as an improviser. In the year 102 BC, he came to Rome and took in the noble families of the city as a poet foot. 93 BC, he received the citizenship of Heraclea, when he accompanied Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus, by the lex Plautia Papiria in the year 89 BC, the Roman citizenship. Archias got the nomen gentile of Licinius. 62 BC Archias was of a certain Grattius, of whom nothing further is known, charged under the lex Papia, which banishment from Rome provides for presumption of citizenship. Cicero defended him with the speech Pro Archia poeta. Probably Archias was acquitted, as Cicero mentions in a letter Archias and the formulation of Archias ' presence in Rome presupposes. Over time and circumstances of his death is not known.

Work

Cicero mentions in his speech several epics, about whom nothing further is known and which are also not known. Under the name of Archias 35 poems in the Anthologia Graeca have survived. The authenticity and the reference to Aulus Licinius Archias are unclear. A, indicated by Cicero epic about the consulate has not been preserved.